racial discrimination

Toward Mercy: Excessive Sentencing & The Untapped Power of North Carolina’s Constitution

Emory Law Journal (2024)

For decades, the North Carolina Supreme Court·like many other state supreme courts·largely ignored its own state constitutionÊs ban on harsh criminal punishments and deferred entirely to federal case law on the constitutional limits of excessive sentences. The result has been near total deference to the state legislature and a discriminatory mass incarceration...