Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina criminal cases and infractions languishing for years or even decades without prosecution have been dismissed through a records cleanup facilitated by the court system.
NC Policy Watch reports the Administrative Office of the Courts is providing data to counties, where district attorneys can decide whether to use a new technology tool to perform mass dismissals. It’s part of a two-year AOC initiative to create a modern and integrated court information system.
Court system spokeswoman Sharon Gladwell says nearly 700,000 cases had been dismissed as of mid-April.
Local prosecutors decide which cases to dismiss. Some interviewed said they focused on misdemeanors and infractions, with many related to vehicle registrations and inspections or bad checks. The DAs said violent crimes or impaired-driving cases aren’t being dismissed.
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