Iryna’s Law, also known as House Bill 307, went into effect this month across North Carolina’s courts, making a number of changes to pretrial release requirements, mandates for mental health evaluations for certain defendants while also shortening death penalty appeal timelines.

In Washington County, the most notable changes appear to be the elimination of written promise releases and an increased vigilance by judges and magistrates to the past criminal histories of suspects and the dangers to the public those individuals pose.

While pre-trial release based on a written promise to appear for court is eliminated, magistrates still have the option of unsecured bond, which grants a suspect’s release without any cash liability for failure to appear in court.

Critics of the unsecured concept argue that unsecured bail is equal to written release.

Superior Court Wayland Sermons, who sits atop the Second Judicial District that includes Washington County and Beaufort, Hyde, Martin and Tyrrell counties, says a “comprehensive update” of the District’s policy was already in place prior to adoption of BH 307...