Recodification, or reform, of North Carolina’s (NC) criminal justice laws has been pursued by many different organizations and individuals for years. Why do NC’s criminal laws need to be reformed? The problem with the current laws is that they enable and perhaps even encourage, overcriminalization. Overcriminalization is a key criminal justice reform issue for conservative leaders because they recognize that expansive and overly broad criminal codes create tremendous inefficiencies, opportunities for injustice and may undermine the authority of the criminal law.
 
A constant flurry of new criminal offenses has been added to NC’s criminal code with little attention to producing a comprehensive, consistent code. NC’s criminal code is currently larger than that of South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or Georgia, expanding to over 765 sections. Each year, North Carolina lawmakers add an average of 34 crimes to the books. While intentions were good in adding new crimes to the books, the resulting bulky, redundant and complex criminal code creates problems and unnecessary expense for our state. Rather than having all criminal offenses codified in one section of NC law, they appear throughout more than 142 different chapters of state law. This scattered and unorganized approach makes it difficult for law enforcement officers, lawyers, and judges to know and understand the criminal law; and it undermines fair notice to citizens. It also forces trial judges to address ambiguities on an ad hoc basis in the cases that come before them. Furthermore, law enforcement officers and prosecutors are faced with hugely confusing decisions when determining how to proceed with what charges they wish to bring forth. The worst part is that the average North Carolinian is in danger of breaking laws he or she may not even know exist! 
 
By creating a comprehensive and orderly criminal code, NC could save money and court resources, while also promoting fairness and equal application of the law. This process would best be done by a commission (which was contemplated by the NC General Assembly (NCGA) in 2017) or a legislative working group that was discussed by the NCGA in the 2019-2020 session. The bipartisan legislative working group would review North Carolina’s current unwieldy code and aim to create recommendations to remove unnecessary and redundant language throughout the various chapters. While doing so, the working group would ensure that the General Assembly’s intent is preserved in recommended changes. 
 
This effort enjoys widespread support from individuals and organizations across the political spectrum. One such effort is a project by the UNC School of Government that seeks to recodify our state’s criminal codes. Other advocates include both the John Locke Foundation and Manhattan Institute.