SB 676

Titles the act the NC Survivors’ Act (Act). Adds new Part 4 to Article 81B of GS Chapter 15A. Applies the Act to all criminal sentencing procedures. Defines five terms. Enacts GS 15A-1340.27 (concerning survivor sentencing) requiring, during a hearing to sentence a person or for a person to accept a plea of guilty, when that person is a survivor of domestic violence and has been charged with a crime, the court to consider as a mitigating factor that the person has been abused physically, sexually, or psychologically by the person's sexual partner, family member, or member of the household, the trafficker of the person, or other individual who used the person for financial gain. Requires the defendant to provide to the court evidence as described. If the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was a survivor of domestic violence as described and that the violence or abuse was related to and was a substantial contributing factor in causing the defendant to commit the offense or to the defendant's criminal behavior, the court must depart from the applicable sentence and use the lower ranges provided by the act. Exempts persons convicted of any five described convictions, including any offense that would require the person to register as a sex offender.