NC lawmakers send bills targeting gangs, mental health evaluations to Stein

North Carolina legislators are sending Gov. Josh Stein a pair of bills that would change state laws governing criminal suspects — proposals that come in the wake of high-profile cases. 

The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to pass House Bill 1173, which supporters say would give prosecutors and law enforcement stronger tools to investigate, prosecute and deter gang activity across the state. Sponsors titled the bill “Jaleeyah’s Law,” named for 13-year-old Jaleeyah Tune of Goldsboro, who was fatally shot in December. Lawmakers say it was a gang-related killing. 

The House also passed House Bill 1104, which would change state laws for evaluating criminal suspects for mental illness. State lawmakers began reviewing the state’s laws for treating criminal suspects who suffer from mental illness after the August death of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian who moved to Charlotte in 2022 and was fatally stabbed on a city train. DeCarlos Brown, the man charged in her death, was deemed incapable of proceeding following a mental evaluation. House Bill 1104 is considered an update to “Iryna’s Law,” a judicial reform package signed into law shortly after Zarutska’s death last year. 

Stein has 10 days to veto the bills, sign them into law, or let them become law without his signature.

Jaleeyah’s Law. House Bill 1173 would increase penalties for certain crimes committed by people who are deemed to be gang members or gang leaders. It also lowers the threshold for who can be identified as a gang member or leader. It would also change the North Carolina Criminal Gang Suppression Act to more clearly define criminal gangs, gang members, gang leaders and what constitutes criminal gang activity. Bill supporters have said existing law makes prosecuting gang crimes difficult. Opponents have said the proposed changes would create legal risks for innocent people who may associate with gangs but who aren’t gang members or involved in gang activity.

Iryna’s Law update. Iryna’s Law last year ushered-in a requirement that some criminal defendants — who either have undergone an involuntary commitment within three years of their arrest for a violent crime, or who judicial officials believe to be a danger to themselves or others — to be transported “to a hospital emergency department or other crisis facility” for a psychiatric evaluation. Hospital leaders opposed the measure, saying the suspects could endanger patients and hospital staff. House Bill 1104 would shift those to county jails. It would also allow more North Carolinians who are under involuntary commitment orders to undergo mental health treatment outside of psychiatric facilities. The bill has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, with a handful of critics saying the legislation doesn’t go far enough to improve mental health treatment in North Carolina.