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Glossary of Terms
In North Carolina, the Governor has the power to
grant clemency in the form of commutations and pardons.
Commutation - whereby an individual
presently incarcerated and serving an active sentence has their sentence
commuted or reduced by any number of years, months, or days, or to make parole
eligible, or to time served which would release the individual immediately.
Pardon - may be granted to those individuals
who have maintained a good reputation in their community, following the
completion of their sentence for a criminal offense. Ordinarily, an
applicant must wait to apply until at least five years have elapsed since the
applicant was released from State supervision (including probation or parole).
A Pardon is merely an official statement attached to the criminal record that
states that the State of North Carolina has pardoned the crime.
A Pardon does not expunge or erase a criminal
record. Under the North Carolina Constitution, the
Executive Branch does not have the authority to expunge a criminal record. The
Judicial Branch handles the process of expungement that clears an individual's
criminal record pursuant to N.C.G.S. §§ 15A-145, 146 and 149. An individual
would need to contact an attorney of their choice to pursue expungement of a
criminal record through the Judicial System.
There are three types of Pardons:
Pardon of Forgiveness
– Pardon most
frequently requested. The Pardon basically states that the individual has been
pardoned and forgiven of their criminal conviction. This Pardon is granted with
certain conditions.
Pardon of Innocence – Pardon granted when an individual has been convicted and the criminal charges
are subsequently dismissed. Application for this type of Pardon allows an
individual to petition the Governor for a declaration of innocence when the
individual has been erroneously convicted and imprisoned and later determined to
be innocent. In such cases where this Pardon is granted, an individual is
allowed to seek compensation from the State. Please refer to N.C.G.S. §
148-82, regarding Provision for Compensation and N.C.G.S. § 148-84, regarding
Evidence; Action by Industrial Commission; Payment and Amount of Compensation.
Unconditional Pardon
– Pardon granted primarily to restore an individual’s right to own or possess a
firearm. This Pardon is granted without any conditions or restrictions.
Probation - A suspended sentence of
imprisonment contingent on the observance of conditions set forth by the court,
violation of which empowers the court to revoke the suspension and activate the
prison or jail sentence
Suspended sentence - a necessary part of
probation, an active prison or jail sentence to be served if the
conditions of probation are violated and probation is revoked
Terms
and data elements used on Dept. of Correction
public access information pages
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| Activity
Type: |
Indicates if the
offender's activity assignment is a program. |
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| Age: |
The current age
of the offender. |
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| Conviction
Date: |
The date the
court imposed the most serious sentence. |
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| Current
Location: |
If the offender
status is active, current location is the facility that has custody of
an offender. If the offender status is inactive or paroled, current
location is the county or state where the offender was paroled or
released. |
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| Custody: |
The offender's
custody classification. The custody assignments are: |
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Close |
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Medium |
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Minimum 1 |
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Minimum 2 |
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Minimum 3 |
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| Birth
Date: |
The birth date
of the offender. |
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| In
Process: |
Data has been
entered but the time calculations have not been done. |
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| Sentence
Length: |
The sum of all
consecutive sentences in Year/Month/Day format. |
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| Name: |
The offender's
full name. |
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| N/A: |
Information not
available. |
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| Non
Public Information: |
Information
deemed not public by the Attorney General of North Carolina. |
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| DOC
Number: |
This is a unique
number that identifies an offender. |
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| Offense
Description: |
A description of
the crime. Because of space constraints some crime descriptions have
been reduced. Following are some of the more cryptic: |
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AWDW -Assault
With Deadly Weapon |
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AWDWISI -
Assault With Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury |
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AWDWWIKISI -
Assault With Deadly Weapon With Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury |
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POSS WITS
SCHEDULE II -Possession With Intent to Sell Schedule II |
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| Offense
Qualifier: |
Indicator of what role the offender played
during the commission of the offense. The eleven possibilities are: |
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Principal |
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Attempted |
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Conspiracy to Attempt |
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Conspiracy |
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Accessory Before Fact |
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Accessory to Attempt |
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AID & ABET |
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Accessory After
Fact |
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Solicit |
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Solicit to
Attempt |
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Unknown |
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| Outstanding
Detainers: |
Indicates if the
offender has any outstanding detainers. |
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| Parole
Date: |
The date an
offender was Paroled by the Department of Correction. |
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| Pre-Sentence
Diagnostic: |
The offender has
been convicted of a crime but not sentenced by the court. The North
Carolina Department of Correction is preparing diagnostic reports at the
request of the court to help determine the appropriate sentence. |
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| Processing
Incomplete: |
New admission
record where data has not been entered and/or verified. |
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| Program
Description: |
The description
of the program activity the inmate is assigned. |
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| Projected
Release Date: |
The estimated
date an active offender will be released from the Department of
Correction. |
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| Race: |
The offender's
race. |
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| Release
Date: |
The date an
inactive offender was released from the Department of Correction. |
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| Sentencing
County: |
The sentencing
county for the most serious offense. |
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| Gender: |
The gender of
the offender. |
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| Status: |
The status of an
offender's record. The possible values are: |
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Active |
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Inactive |
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Paroled |
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| Total
Escapes this Term: |
The total number
of escapes during the period of incarceration. |
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| Total
Infractions: |
The total number
of infractions during the period of incarceration. |
Governor's Clemency Office
4294 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-4294
Phone: 919-715-1695
Fax: 919-715-8623
e-mail: clemency@ncmail.net
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