• Research Report

    Introduction Letter – NC Overcriminaization Task Force

    posted November 19, 2015 by Jon Guze, Daren Bakst
    In the last two years, academics and scholars of public policy have identified North Carolina as a state with an overly complex criminal code that can ensnare small businesses, farmers, and individuals who unknowingly fail to comply with regulatory rules. In 2014, Professor Jeff Welty of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government published an article in the North Carolina Law Review, “Overcriminalization in North Carolina”; and James Copland and Isaac Gorodetski, directors respectively of the Center for Legal Policy and the Center for State and Local Leadership at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, published a primer, “Overcriminalizing the Old North State.”
  • John Locke Update

    Is Perdue’s Executive Order Unconstitutional?

    posted January 18, 2012 by Daren Bakst
    View in your browser. As I have discussed, Governor Bev Perdue issued an executive order creating a commission made up of special interests…
  • John Locke Update

    Eugenics Task Force Recommendations: Initial Thoughts

    posted January 12, 2012 by Daren Bakst
    View in your browser. The governor’s eugenics compensation task force voted on final recommendations today. I recently wrote about ways that the victims should…
  • John Locke Update

    Annexation victory!

    posted November 17, 2011 by Daren Bakst
    View in your browser. Municipalities in North Carolina, subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, submitted letters to the United States Department of Justice arguing…
  • John Locke Update

    Capitalism and Morality

    posted October 20, 2011 by Daren Bakst
      View In Your Browser   RALEIGH — The "Occupy" movement has brought about some recent discussion…