Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee Members
Updated April 15, 2008

Co-Chairs

Wayne Abele, Burke County Chairman of the Board
Ronnie Smith, Martin County Vice Chair

NCACC Staff

Patrice Roesler, Deputy Director

Members

• Jason Chappell, Transylvania County Chairman of the Board
• John Day, Cabarrus County Manager
• Kenneth Gardner, Wake County Commissioner
• Deborah Goldberg, Mecklenburg County IGR Director/Assistant to the County Manager
• Zachary Henderson, Wilkes County Commissioner
• Faye Higgins, Caldwell County Commissioner
• L. David Huffman, Catawba County Sheriff
• Dan Ingle, Alamance County Vice Chair
• Edward Jones, Forsyth County Deputy County Manager
• Joni Juba, Cabarrus County Vice Chair
• Penny McGhee-Young, Franklin County Vice Chair
• Brian McMahan, Jackson County Chairman of the Board
• Norman Mitchell, Mecklenburg County Commissioner
• Ellen Reckhow, Durham County Chairman of the Board
• Paul Spruill, Beaufort County Manager

Intergovernmental Partners

• Edmond Caldwell, N.C. Sheriff's Association
• Karen Calhoun, N.C. Sentencing Commission Senior Research & Policy Associate
• Robert Guy, N.C. Department of Correction
• John Madler, N.C. Sentencing Commission Associate Director for Policy

Click here to e-mail all members.

Recent Reports

Proposal boosts age for juvenile offenders (April 2008)
Members of the NCACC Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee expressed concerns at their March 25 meeting with a proposal that would change the age at which an offender enters adult court jurisdiction from 16 to 18.

Funds for CJPP, JCPC programs in danger (February 2008)
State funding for local criminal and juvenile justice programs could be in jeopardy, members of the NCACC Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee heard during their Jan. 23 meeting in New Hanover County.

Steering committee sets sights on underage drinking (September 2007)
The NCACC Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee met the morning of Aug. 15 to discuss underage drinking and means in which counties can partner with the state, schools and other groups to help prevent it.

County jails not fit for mentally ill (March 2007)
Chronic overcrowding isn’t the only problem facing North Carolina’s county jails. Sheriffs are experiencing part of a growing national trend – an increasing number of prisoners in county jails who suffer from mental illness.

Sheriffs’ concerns, annexation draw NCACC committee attention (January 2007)
Cabarrus County Sheriff Brad Riley, president of the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association, addressed steering committee members Jan. 10.

Jail populations, judicial needs rising fast (March 29, 2006)
The state’s court system is in dire straits in terms of technology, salaries and staffing for key staff positions, according to a representative who addressed the NCACC’s Criminal Justice Steering Committee on March 29.