North Carolina legislators are pushing forward with changes to make it harder for people with histories of criminal behavior and mental illness to go back onto the street after being arrested.

The new version of House Bill 307 passed an initial committee hearing Monday, en route to what's likely to be a swift passage in the state Senate followed by final approval in the state House later this week.

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The bill would allow people with violent criminal histories, but who were deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, to be held in psychiatric hospitals longer. It would eliminate certain cashless bail policies and enact stricter bail guidelines for some alleged crimes. And it would tweak some rules for the death penalty, but it contains nothing that would appear to immediat

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