Home Local News Representative Garland E. Pierce Appointed to Justice and Safety Oversight Committee

Representative Garland E. Pierce Appointed to Justice and Safety Oversight Committee

RALEIGH — Representative Garland Pierce was appointed by the House Speaker to serve on the Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety.

The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety will examine, on a continuing basis, the correctional, law enforcement and juvenile justice systems in North Carolina, in order to make ongoing recommendations to the General Assembly on ways to improve those systems and to assist those systems in realizing their objectives of protecting the public and of punishing and rehabilitating offenders. 

“I look forward to serving and making a difference,” Representative Pierce is quoted as saying. “I would like to thank the Speaker of the House for giving me the opportunity to serve in this capacity.”

The Committee will also study the budget, programs and policies of the Department of Public Safety to determine ways in which the General Assembly may improve the effectiveness of the Department. Pierce will help examine the effectiveness of the Division of Adult Correction of the Department of Public Safety in implementing the public policy stated in of providing work assignments and employment for inmates as a means of reducing the cost of maintaining the inmate population while enabling inmates to acquire or retain skills and work habits needed to secure honest employment after their release.

Other areas the Committee will examine is the effectiveness of the Department of Public Safety in implementing the duties and responsibilities charged to the Department and the overall effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement in the State; examine the effectiveness of the Division of Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety in implementing the duties; study and evaluate the funding sources and needs of domestic violence programs providing services to domestic violence victims and programs providing treatment to domestic violence abusers; study legal services funding for domestic violence victims and explore additional sources of funding.

Pierce’s role will also help explore sources of additional funding for all domestic violence programs, including visitation centers; examine current programs and explore new programs to provide effective services to domestic violence victims and treatment to domestic violence abusers; examine law enforcement and judicial responses to domestic violence; review data collected on domestic violence cases; study the effectiveness of the Crime Victims Rights Act as it relates to domestic violence; Study the needs of juveniles.

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This study may include, but is not limited to: determining the adequacy and appropriateness of services to children and youth receiving child welfare services, to children and youth in the juvenile court system provided by the Division of Social Services of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Division of Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety to children and youth served by the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services system.

Other responsibilities include developing methods for identifying and providing services to children and youth not receiving but in need of child welfare services, children and youth at risk of entering the juvenile court system, and children and youth exposed to domestic violence situations; identifying obstacles to ensuring that children who are in secure or nonsecure custody are placed in safe and permanent homes within a reasonable period of time and recommending strategies for overcoming those obstacles.

The Commission will also consider what, if anything, can be done to expedite the adjudication and appeal of abuse and neglect charges against parents so that decisions may be made about the safe and permanent placement of their children as quickly as possible. It will evaluate problems associated with juveniles who are beyond the disciplinary control of their parents, including juveniles who are runaways, and develop solutions for addressing the problems of those juveniles.

Pierce will help identify strategies for the development and funding of a comprehensive statewide database relating to children and youth to facilitate State agency planning for delivery of services to children and youth; study any other matter that the Committee considers necessary.

The Committee may make interim reports to the General Assembly on matters for which it may report to a regular session of the General Assembly. A report to the General Assembly may contain any legislation needed to implement a recommendation of the Committee.



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