KYLA MCGHEE: Iryna’s Law, also known as House Bill 307, took effect on December 1st …lawmakers created this bill as a result of a man stabbing a woman on a bus in Charlotte back in August…
KYLA MCGHEE: Matthew Robinson, professor of criminal justice at Appalachian State University, describes some of the positives…
Matthew Robinson: “Some good things about the law is it aims to reduce the use of cashless bail… sum of money required to promise you’ll reappear for your trial date…”
Matthew Robinson: “another positive is that it increases the likelihood of mental health evaluations for violent offenders… so a person who’s been involuntarily committed and or is deemed a threat to themselves or others, there’s a mandatory mental health evaluation”
KYLA MCGHEE: and the negatives…
Matthew Robinson: “The law allows the state to use any method of death that’s being carried out by other states…no one really knows how that’s going to go…no one really knows if that’s going to be an effective method of death. If it’s going to lead to cruel and unusual punishment…”
KYLA MCGHEE: Frank Baumgartner is a distinguished professor of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill…he says this law will also limit appeals
Frank Baumgartner: “There could very well be executions that follow because the law mandates that there be a two-year limit on appeals…”
KYLA MCGHEE: Both Robinson and Baumgartner agree that this law is being politicized in a way that could force the state to resume executions… although North Carolina hasn’t executed someone since 2006…
Matthew Robinson: “In my opinion as a death penalty scholar, I would say the negatives of the law probably outweigh the positives…”
KYLA MCGHEE: Noel Nickle, the executive director of North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, believes there are no positives to the law…
Noel Nickle: “There is data that we know keeps us safe, and it is not killing people that kill people…”
KYLA MCGHEE: Nickle and the NCCADP focus on finding a solution that doesn’t involve violence, but still holds the North Carolina population accountable…
KYLA MCGHEE: Baumgartner wants to leave the public with this…
Frank Baumgartner: “It shouldn’t be the partisan color of the governor or the General Assembly that determines who lives and dies. And that’s potentially what we’re looking at…”
KYLA MCGHEE: Proponents say one major aspect of the bill is that it requires written fact findings for decisions about release of repeat offenders…
