News

By Sydney Gaviser In light of high-profile police uses of force and subsequent protests this summer, police officers have been scrutinized more than ever. While some of the conversation has related to rules for police use of force and how police are funded, or defunded, another focus has been on how police officers are hired, […]

By: Alexi DeLara Every year, Duke University offers the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in Bass Connections, year-long research projects spanning a variety of topics. These students work as a team alongside faculty with a common end goal, which is dependent on the project. This year, there are two projects that individuals […]

The Greensboro News & Record ran an editorial this weekend from Dr. Marvin Swartz and Dr. Allison Robertson, Professor and Assistant Professor, respectively, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University. From the article: Recent elections brought resurgent national interest in the legalization of marijuana. This was partly fueled by the need for new tax […]

The New Mexico Supreme Court recently cited Wilson Center research in a unanimous opinion that raises the standards for eyewitness identification under the state constitution. The opinion in State v. Martinez affirmed a man’s convictions for killing two Santa Fe teenagers and adopted a new standard for determining whether eyewitness identification of a criminal suspect […]

Wake County Superior Court Judge Vince Rozier released the order today appointing Wilson Center Director Thomas Maher as a special master in ongoing litigation in how the state is handling COVID-19 in prisons. You can read more about the case and the appointment here and read the full order below. 20 CVS 500110 Order Appointing […]

Wilson Center Director Brandon Garrett and Vanderbilt Law School Criminal Justice Director Christopher Slobogin released a new article today in the German Law Article, “The Law on Police Use of Force in the United States.” The Abstract: Recent events in the United States have highlighted the fact that American police resort to force, including deadly […]

Wilson Center Executive Director Thomas Maher has been appointed special master in the North Carolina litigation over the state prison system’s handling of COVID-19. NAACP v. Cooper was filed earlier this year on behalf of several civil rights organizations, including the North Carolina NAACP and ACLU, as well as several incarcerated individuals. The plaintiffs have […]

By: Sydney Gaviser Eyewitness testimony is one of the oldest and most basic forms of trial evidence. If a witness sees a person commit a crime, reports to the police, and is able to identify the culprit in a lineup procedure, the system must have worked. Unfortunately, research tells us that eyewitnesses can and do make […]