MADD’s Court Monitoring Program enlists court monitors to observe and document what happens in the courtroom during impaired driving case proceedings. The program was created to ensure that impaired driving offenders are prosecuted and justice is achieved. Court monitoring is a tool proven to affect the adjudication process and is recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as an effective countermeasure to reduce impaired driving (1). Court monitors on the local scale can impact the handling of impaired driving cases by their mere presence in the court room.
Court monitoring is intended to enhance transparency and accountability within the criminal justice system and reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses. One way this goal is achieved is by sharing data and observations with law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and the public to promote awareness of impaired driving and ensure accountability for all impaired driving offenders. To reduce future offenses, MADD® supports swift and unbiased treatment of all impaired driving cases. Court monitors track misdemeanor impaired driving cases in the judicial courts of their respective counties. Court monitors are often physically present for court settings and acquire case information from courtroom observation and, when necessary, from researching online databases. The data is then entered into the MADD National Court Monitoring Database for reporting purposes. The information presented in this report is from cases monitored in 2021.
The North Carolina Court Monitoring Program monitored cases in Carteret, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Johnston, Lee, Mecklenburg, Onslow, Orange, Person, Robeson, Union and Wake counties.
North Carolina State Report (reporting period: 1/1/2021 – 12/31/2021)
Case Disposition DWI Data reported where disposition is known.
1,000
890
This report is designed to present observations and trends relative to the ten counties monitored and is not intended to be a statistical analysis.
750
500
Pending Cases Monitored* | 1623 | 56% Adjudicated Cases Monitored | 1262 | 44% Total Cases Monitored in 2021 | 2885 *pending cases are cases waiting for a judgement
302
250
62
23
4
0
*An amended disposition means the charge was either amended to a lesser charge (such as Reckless Driving) or amended to a higher charge (less common)
By County Dispositions Where disposition is known by county.
Guilty
Not Guilty
Dismissed
Amended to Felony
Amended
No Contest
Unknown
Plea Deal
200
150
100
50
0
Of the DWI cases monitored in 2021, 69% of cases were found guilty either by trial or plea. Consistent with previous years, 24% of cases were dismissed while the rest were Amended or the disposition was not able to be determined.
Gender and Age
Where Gender and Age are known.
Male
Female
600
400
200
0
Under 20
21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70-79
Of the DWI cases observed in 2021, 74% of the defendants were male which is consistent with data observed in previous years. Similarly, over 60% of defendants were under the age of 40. The number of underage impaired drivers continues to grow with more than 190 cases observed in 2021.
60%
51%
Alcohol Content Blood
Where BAC is known.
40%
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in cases continues to be a concern and has increased slightly from last year. Of the cases in which the BAC was available, we observed that 47% of cases monitored had a BAC of 0.15 or higher.
29%
20%
14%
3%
3%
1%
0%
1-4 Months 2%
5-9 Months 12%
26 or More Months 23%
Age Case
Where Case Age is known.
North Carolina observed a significant increase in the amount of time it took a case to reach final disposition; most likely an effect from the courts closing due to COVID with a 15% increase in cases taking longer than 16 months.
10-15 Months 22%
21-25 Months 18%
16-20 Months 23%
Driving a vehicle while impaired is a dangerous crime, yet continues to happen across the United States. Each year, about 1 million individuals are arrested. What happens after those arrests depends on the criminal justice system. As a MADD court monitor, you can get the insider’s perspective on the judicial system, while making a vital contribution to your local community. Your presence in court and the data you collect will help make sure our laws are upheld and the criminal justice system does what it is intended to do: Keep us safe Key Findings & Observations MADD’s North Carolina Court Monitoring Program observes DWI cases in counties throughout the state with funding provided by the Governors Highway Safety Program. In the year 2021, MADD North Carolina was able to monitor 2,863 cases overall; 1,227 of those cases reached a final disposition in that year. Data is collected by trained volunteers and staff by observing court proceedings held in District Courts in counties throughout the state. Due to the courts continuing to be affected by closures and capacity limits from the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to monitor in person for part of the y ar. Due to the pandemic and natural ttrition, om counties lost volunteer court monitors over the past year resulting in a small number of cases being monit red. Cases monitored are selected by what is handled in court w n ttending in person or through random cases c osen from the court dock ts. Data wa collected both in person and through the public use terminals at the Clerk of Court’s Office. Through the examination of the data from 2021, the following are general observations for the counties with court monitoring in North Carolina: In 2021, 24 % of cases that were closed were dismissed which is consistent with the previous year. Common reasons for dismissals are the granting of pretrial motions such as reasonable suspicion for the traffic stop and probable cause for the arrest, and officer failure to appear. Often cases are dismissed when the officer is not in court as the defense opposes the states’ motion to continue the case. High blood alcohol levels continue to be a concern in North Carolina with 47% of all the cases monitored
having a blood alcohol level of a .15 or higher which is an increase from last year. The number of underage impaired drivers increased by 20% from 2020 to 2021.
As the pandemic delays added to the already large backlog of DWI cases on the dockets throughout the state, North Carolina has seen some counties such as Mecklenburg devote several weeks to try address these cases and get the older cases disposed of through plea or trial. It is not uncommon to see cases from 2018 on the dockets which makes the cases more likely to be dismissed due to issues such as the law enforcement officer no longer being available due to retirement or transfer to new location/agency or having difficulty recollecting the details of such an old case. The length is takes for reach a final disposition of a DWI case continues to be an area of concern that is a focus of the court monitoring program of North Carolina. About 64% of DWI cases take over 16 months to reach final disposition in District Court. This was a 15% increase from last year which is most likely an effect from the COVID closures and capacity limits which only increased the already existing backlog. IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY DRUNK OR DRUG-IMPAIRED DRIVING, MADD IS HERE TO HELP. CALL OUR VICTIM/SURVIVOR 24-HOUR HELPLINE AT 877-MADD-HELP (877-623-3435).
(1) Richard, C. M., Magee, K., Bacon-Abdelmoteleb, P., & Brown, J. L. (2018, April). Countermeasures that work: A highway safety countermeasure guide for State Highway Safety Offices, Ninth edition (Report No. DOT HS 812 478). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Driving a vehicle while impaired is a dangerous crime, yet continues to happen across the United States. Each year, about 1 million individuals are arrested. What happens after those arrests depends on the criminal justice system. As a MADD court monitor, you can get the insider’s perspective on the judicial system while making a vital contribution to your local community. Your presence in court and the data you collect will help make sure our laws are upheld and the criminal justice system does what it is intended to do: Keep us safe. Court monitors achieve the work of MADD’s Court Monitoring Program by doing the following: Remind law enforcement that MADD wants to see their cases prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law
Track conviction rates and sanctions
Identify trends in offender age, gender, and blood alcohol concentration level
Track conviction rates and sanctions
Promote public awareness and understanding of the dangers of impaired driving
For more information about court monitoring efforts in your state, please visit madd.org/courts to learn more about the program and the availability to volunteer.
For more information about volunteering in North Carolina, please visit madd.org/North-Carolina.
North Carolina Mailing Address 9660-138 Falls of Neuse Road #152
Raleigh, NC 27615 nc.state@madd.org
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