Events

Curtis Flowers is a Mississippi man who was tried six times for the same crime and whose case was the subject of Season 2 of the APM Reports podcast "In the Dark". He spent nearly 23 years behind bars and endured six trials and four death sentences for four murders he has always maintained he did not commit. Flowers' case was one of three that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2016 were to be remanded to lower courts to be reviewed for evidence of racial bias in jury selection. Flowers participates in this event with his attorney, Henderson Hill, to discuss his years-long saga and the injustices of a system zeroed in on convicting him.

Police have become the de facto first responders to behavioral health crises despite rarely receiving adequate training to safely and effectively handle the situation. The consequences of this are reflected in the disproportionate number of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders killed by police every year and held in jails and prisons. A panel of experts - Dr. Tracie Keesee, Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Justice Initiatives at the Center for Policing Equity; Timothy Black, Director of Consulting for White Bird Clinic; and Christy E. Lopez, Professor from Practice at Georgetown Law - discuss alternatives to police responses when it comes to behavioral health crises. Dr. Marvin Swartz, from Duke Health, moderates.

Ben Finholt, Director, Just Sentencing Project with NC Prisoner Legal Services, summarizes the organization's mission and work to the Wilson Center. He spoke with students working with the Wilson Center during Spring 2021.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of President George H.W. Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law. A panel of experts joined us for a Q&A exploring the past, present and future of the ADA and how and the extent to which it has increased access to services for an entire generation. Dr.Marvin Swartz moderated the panel: Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Legal Director and Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; John Petrila, Senior Executive Vice President of Policy of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute; and Holly Stiles, Litigation Counsel, of Disability Rights NC.

A celebration of the renaming of the Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law to honor a generous donation from alumnus and philanthropist Derek Wilson. The event features a keynote roundtable with renowned ProPublica and New York Times Magazine journalist Pamela Colloff, Texas parolee Joe Bryan and Duke Law rising 3L Sarah Champion, who worked on an amicus brief in Bryan's case.

A panel discussion of Alexandra Natapoff's book, "Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal, with Prof. Natapoff; Adam Gershowitz, professor at William & Mary Law School; Eisha Jain, visiting professor at Duke Law; and Vikrant Reddy, senior research fellow at the Charles Koch Institute. Professor Brandon Garrett moderates.

Professor Rachel Barkow discusses her new book, Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Rachel Elise Barkow is the Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy and Faculty Director, Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU.

At the launch event for the Duke Center for Science and Justice, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana, two members of the Exonerated Five, tell their stories to a Duke Law audience. They are the subjects of the Netflix series "When They See Us," which focuses on the conviction and later exoneration of Mr. Salaam, Mr. Santana and three others in the infamous Central Park jogger case.