New Sentencing Grid(s) Available

The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission recently posted online the new felony sentencing grid effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2011. The chart is available here. There are no changes to the front of the grid (the ranges of permissible minimum sentences), but the numbers on the back are increased to account for the fact that under the Justice Reinvestment Act, all felons with offenses committed after last week will receive post-release supervision (discussed here). The Sentencing Commission also posted a special table of maximum sentences just for Class B1 through E reportable sex crimes. That is to account for the changes in S.L. 2011-307 (discussed here) that add 60 months to the maximum sentence for those defendants. Those changes are also effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2011. There were no changes to the misdemeanor sentencing grid. For all of the new grids, however, note that the definitions of community and intermediate punishment have changed, as discussed here.