Repeat offenders fill jail cells

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bullet holes in a door are the only evidence left.

“I was scared for my life,” Eric Sprouse told WCNC Personal Safety Specialist Dan Starks. “This guy was trying to kill me.”

During one short walk from his Dilworth Billiards business to his home, Eric Sprouse was jumped.

“The minute I saw the gun I saw the flash. The guy got out and come into the sidewalk. He said, 'Drop the bag, drop the bag,'” he said.

The two men exchanged gunfire. Then more bullets started flying in the Dilworth neighborhood.

“He dropped like a stone and then the fire started coming from the car. They started shooting. They shot six rounds at me from the car," Sprouse said.

What happened haunts him but what angers Sprouse is that the two people arrested in the case are two men police know well, Cedric Gaston and Tony Williams.

In Mecklenburg County, Gaston’s been arrested more than 20 times in five years for things like burglary and larceny. Tony Williams has faced other charges as well, things like assault and stealing cars. He's had 17 arrests since 2000.

They are just two repeat offenders filling our jails.

“The recidivism affects us just like it impacts everyone else,” said Mecklenburg Sheriff Chip Bailey.

Bailey says repeat criminals like Gaston and Williams are a big problem.

“If we didn't see the repeat offenders, you'd take 70 percent of the population out of here,” said Bailey.

Seventy percent of people in jail are repeat offenders. A sheriff’s department report last year showed most repeat offenders are locked up on misdemeanors.

“Almost everyone comes out and they come out worse than they went in,” said criminal justice expert Paul Friday who also teaches at UNC-Charlotte.

He says Mecklenburg County lacks resources to cut down on repeat offenders.

“It's a mess,” he said. “Mecklenburg is very advanced but it is handicapped by what the state will allow them to do.”

There are things that could improve the situation but unlike other states, North Carolina doesn't require county and state systems to communicate with each other nor do they require pretrial investigations that could highlight a criminal's history and help judges bound by sentencing guidelines.

Friday says there’s little money for prevention.

“This is not a 21st century system. We don't have the kinds of services that would help the juvenile get GEDs, get skills and to have support. We say that's the family’s responsibility. Yes it is, but when the family fails the public pays,” he said.