Breaking or Entering a Place of Religious Worship
North Carolina statute provides that it is a more serious offense to break or enter into a building that is a place of religious worship. The statute defines a building that is a place of religious worship as including “any church, chapel, meetinghouse, synagogue, temple, longhouse, or mosque, or other building that is regularly used, and clearly identifiable, as a place for religious worship.”
A person who commits breaking or entering a place of religious worship is guilty of a Class G felony. North Carolina law provides that a person who commits a Class G felony must receive a sentence between 8 and 31 months, depending on the person’s prior convictions. A person with no prior convictions may receive an intermediate punishment, but the court is permitted to sentence any person convicted of a Class G felony to active jail time.