NCSB Journal Summer 2026

Finding the Next Starfish

B Y B E N J A M I N R . D A V I D

I write to you from an old jail cell—an ironic place to spend my days now, but perhaps the most fitting of locations to reflect on the most profound professional transformation of my life. It’s a full-circle moment for me, a journey that has led me from prosecuting crime in a courtroom to fighting crime by building community at a former place of incarceration. a g r

For more than 20 years, I served as the district attorney of New Hanover and Pender Counties, entrusted with speaking for the dead in murder trials, giving victims a voice in the courthouse, and serving as the public’s conscience whenever a crime occurred. In that role, I came to see that pre venting crime is better than responding to it and that the most effective type of criminal justice reform is not letting people out of jail, it’s preventing them from ever going to jail in the first place. This has shaped the work I do now at the New Hanover County Community Justice Center (CJC), located in The Harrelson Center—a space that once housed the criminals I prosecuted. In the fall of 2004, three miracles occurred in my life that set me on the path I walk today. First, I was elected as district attorney in a hard-fought, five-person race. I went on to run unopposed for the next five elections and remain grateful for the support d g t

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of so many, regardless of political party. The work I did in those years was both rewarding and difficult, and it has been a great privilege to serve. Second, two days after that first primary election, I became a father for the first time. Steffie and I would later be blessed with two more incredible children. Raising our three children alongside so many of the communi ty’s children has been the most important role of my life. Third, the jail across the street from the courthouse was shuttered and a new deten

tion facility was constructed eight miles away. What remained was an empty, deso late shell of a building that spanned an entire city block. First Baptist Church pur chased the property and began turning what was once a place of incarceration into a cen ter for transformation. That building even tually became the Harrelson Center, which now houses nearly 40 non-profit and associ ated agencies. The reason the old jail closed and relocat ed 20 years ago was because it was projected that by 2025 we would need a facility nearly

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THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR JOURNAL