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Making reentry easier to navigate
New guides give service providers practical tools to help clients overcome legal, policy and practical barriers
What your support makes possible
Our Year in Review
What does a year of research, collaboration, and action look like? Read our latest Annual Report to learn more about our impact and reach this year.
Center receives new grant from the Sozosei Foundation
Expanding Our Leadership on Psychiatric Advance Directives
Working to help more people shape their own care and avoid unnecessary criminal legal involvement
Announcing a new initiative
The SAFE HOPE Study
Interdisciplinary team of Duke researchers will evaluate Durham guaranteed basic income program for reentering community members
The Wilson Center leads national and community efforts to reform our criminal legal system, in collaborations, policy work, and research, drawing on the energy and expertise of our students, faculty, and staff at Duke.
Faculty Director and Founder, Professor Brandon Garrett
About the Wilson Center for Science and Justice
The Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law works to advance criminal justice and fairness through science and law. The Center's work is non-partisan and evidence-informed. We engage with community stakeholders, academics, and policy makers to conduct and translate interdisciplinary research into effective and practical policy solutions.
Areas of Focus
Improving Fairness and Public Safety
Advancing data-driven solutions to racial, economic, behavioral health, and other structural disparities in the criminal legal system to strengthen communities and improve safety for all
Building Pathways Out of and Diversion from the Criminal Legal System
Improving supports for people as they return to their communities after incarceration and preventing entry into the criminal legal system through alternative models
Preventing Wrongful Convictions
Promoting better forensic practices and legal decision-making to eliminate wrongful convictions and strengthen fairness of and trust in the criminal legal system
Advancing Fair Sentencing and Expanding Pathways to Release
Promoting second chances and fairer sentencing to build a justice system that values accountability, redemption, and public safety
Reducing the Harms of Criminal Legal System Involvement
Reducing behavioral health and financial harms to individuals as a result of criminal legal system involvement to create safer and more stable communities
What's Happening
The latest updates and news from the Wilson Center
News from the Wilson Center
Ahead of Wrongful Conviction Day, New Report Examines Police Interrogation Policies Nationwide
Analysis by the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law identifies opportunities to strengthen safeguards against false confessions As communities mark International Wrongful Conviction Day on October 2, […]
Making Reentry Easier to Navigate
New guides give service providers practical tools to help clients overcome legal, policy and practical barriers What happens after incarceration? For many people, the challenges are far from over. Approximately […]
Our Year in Review
What does a year of research, collaboration, and action look like? Our new 2025-2026 Annual Report(opens in new tab) offers a look at the Wilson Center’s work over the past […]
Filling the Legal Gap for Incarcerated Children
Equal Justice Works Fellow Sam Lawrence is working to ensure children have an advocate while they are incarcerated-and building a model for broader access to counsel In most states, a […]