NCSB Journal Summer 2026

twice as large as the one we had just built, with 1,000 beds. Southeastern North Carolina was expected to see a massive influx of residents and with it, increased crime. As you know, the people came. But the jail has not grown by even a single bed. Meanwhile, violent crime has dropped by 43% over that same time. How did we reduce crime and incarceration at the same time? At the CJC I am doubling down on a philosophy that I always employed as DA: Do not shy away from locking up violent and career criminals. Some people belong behind bars and verdicts backed us up in the biggest cases we put before jurors. Support the police and prosecutors. Do not defund them; give them raises. But not every crime requires a cell. Statistically speaking, two out of three indi viduals released from jail will find their way back within three years. The reason? The underlying issues of addiction, mental ill ness, and trauma are rarely addressed by the justice system. To break the cycle, we must look beyond punishment and address the root causes of crime. Doing justice must be balanced with loving mercy. The Truth about Trauma If a child falls off a bike and skins their knee, that is a bad hour. It’s called acute trau ma. The good news is that in the long run the child will be just fine. But some kids experience trauma every day—they experi ence abuse or neglect at home or watch ”caregivers” abuse substances and each other on a consistent basis. Other kids live in neighborhoods where gunshots, food insecu rity, and crushing poverty are everywhere. These children are living with toxic stress. For them, it’s not just one bad hour, but one tough childhood. The bad news: Over time, these children are too often not fine. Traumatized people end up traumatizing themselves and other people. Today’s victim becomes tomorrow’s defendant and high crime areas become high victim areas. People who experience trauma early in life are more likely to engage in destructive behaviors as they grow older. They may use drugs to numb their pain, engage in violent relationships, or make deci sions that only worsen their situation. And unfortunately, many of them end up caught in a revolving door at the courthouse, with little hope for rehabilitation. Now the great news. Trauma can be

treated, especially if it is caught early. People, especially children, are resilient. If we put the right support and structure around them, we can turn them from survivors to thrivers. We can use science to not only solve and prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt, but also stop many crimes from ever occurring. What we can predict, we can prevent. Watch the documentary “Resilience: The biology of stress and the science of hope” or turn to The Body Keeps the Score for a great beach read to learn more. ACEs—Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adverse Community Environments— hold the keys to learning more about treating these kinds of trauma. Things like abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction have long-lasting impacts on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Studies show that children who experience these events are far more likely to become defendants and victims in violent cases later in life. Put another way: the social determinants of health are identical to the root causes of crime. When we can help those in crisis become healthier, we make the entire com munity safer. Getting resources to those most in need right away is critical. The Starfish Model A decade into being DA, I developed The Starfish Model as a way of describing how we can build resilience communitywide, espe cially for those in high poverty, high crime areas, to combat youth violence. Health is at the heart of these efforts— mental, physical, and relational—and makes up the center of the starfish. It’s rare to see healthy individuals in the criminal justice system. Emanating from the center are five arms of outreach, five groups that give struc ture to community: schools, businesses, non profits, faith organizations, and the govern ment. By engaging all sectors of society, we create a system of support that allows indi viduals to heal, grow, and thrive. Schools: Two out of three people who are incarcerated are high school dropouts. By keeping kids in school, especially in under served communities, we can give young peo ple a better chance at success. For example, we reduced violent crime on the Northside of Wilmington by 28% by increasing gradu ation rates by 25%. New educational initia tives like G.L.O.W. and D.C. Virgo proved to be successful programs for previously underserved students.

Businesses: The street has always been an equal opportunity employer. The DA’s Office conducted expungement clinics to remove non-violent offenses from people’s records. Chip Mahan, the CEO and founder of Live Oak Bank, challenged 100 CEOs to hire just one person who had a record. Hometown Hires, now called Step Up Wilmington, put over 500 people back to work. When people are given a second chance at honest employment, everyone wins. Nonprofits: Front line agencies provide critical outreach and support to individuals and families in need. Co-locating them in one space at the Harrelson Center has led to fewer silos and more synergy as they have worked together for collective impact. Voyage (formerly The Blue Ribbon Commission on the Prevention of Youth Violence) is an example of leaders coming together to form a 501(c)(3) corporation to allocate resources based upon “crime map ping”—using data to drive investment deci sions in areas of greatest need. Faith: Justice means more than punish ing the wicked, it means uplifting the poor and the oppressed. The church and state, while separated by the first amendment, have always worked together. The Harrelson Center and its multi-denominational part ners have allowed leaders to put their faith into work, including putting volunteers at the entry of the building in a HELP HUB, which navigates citizens in financial distress, including homelessness, into financial sta bility to treating the whole person and whole family. Government: It is a fun fact that my identical twin brother, Jon, the elected DA in the neighboring three counties, is a repub lican while I am a democrat. So what! Child molesters don’t care and neither should vot ers. We have worked with all three branches of government (executive, legislative, judi cial), at all levels (local state and federal) to put aside differences to embrace a simple message—punish violence and treat sickness. We both know that for every dollar spent on community outreach, we save eight dollars in incarceration. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The bolded efforts noted above started in that old jail. Protecting the Most Vulnerable In the fall of 2023, I knew that the time was coming to leave office. The gift of

SUMMER 2026

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