North Carolina moved to tighten its crime laws after the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in August. The so-called ‘Iryna’s Law’ entered force on Monday, 1 December, and includes several new measures, including the revival of capital punishment in the state.
The House bill, signed into law on 3 October by North Carolina’s Democrat governor Josh Stein, tightens pre-trial release rules by eliminating ‘cashless bail’ for many violent offences and repeat offenders, compelling secure bond or GPS-monitored house arrest instead of release on a promise to return. It establishes a new requirement that judicial officials order mental-health evaluations—and, if indicated, involuntary commitment—for defendants charged with violent crimes who have a recent history of psychiatric issues or are deemed dangerous.
The law also revamps death-penalty procedures: it mandates that pending death-penalty appeals be scheduled within a fixed timeline (hearing by end-2026, final hearing by end-2027) and allows alternative execution methods—eg firing squad or electric chair—if lethal injection is unavailable. That part of the bill was criticized heavily by Democrats, with Stein stating that he would not allow such ‘barbaric’ methods during his term.
‘The law also revamps death-penalty procedures’
Finally, Iryna’s Law adds committing a capital crime on public transportation as an aggravating factor, strengthens oversight of magistrates, and directs a study of mental-health and justice-system intersecting issues.
Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was stabbed in the neck on a late-night train in Charlotte, North Carolina on 22 August by the 35-year-old career criminal Decarlos Brown Jr, who had been arrested 14 times before killing the young woman. Her stabbing sparked outrage, especially after video footage was released and local Democrats and mainstream media did not even bother to report on it. Republicans blamed Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies for the tragedy and announced a tough crackdown on repeat offenders and judges who let them walk free. Both US President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi advocated for the death penalty for the murderer of Iryna Zarutska.
After the outrage and pressure from the public, Democrats gave in on the law but repeated their usual talking points, while also defending the soft-on-crime policies that have led to such tragedies across the United States—Iryna Zarutska’s murder is not an isolated case of repeat offenders, often arrested more than ten times, killing innocent people after being released on cashless bail.
Many Democrat lawmakers described the death-penalty provisions—particularly the revived possibility of execution by methods such as firing squad—as cynical and barbaric, and criticized the law for focusing on punishment rather than addressing root causes like mental-health treatment, underfunded services and social-safety nets. They argued that the bill allocates little or no new funding for mental-health infrastructure or community-based preventive interventions. In their view, the law institutionalizes reactive, punitive measures instead of promoting systematic reforms that could prevent similar tragedies.
In contrast, many members of the public expressed relief and support for Iryna’s Law as a needed response to a shocking crime. Local community officials and citizens said they understood the lawmakers’ motivation, recognizing that current bail and pre-trial release rules appeared too lenient given the accused’s criminal history.
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