News

Is forensic science in the courtroom as trustworthy as it seems? Not always, according to a new report co-authored by Duke Center for Science and Justice Research Director William Crozier. “Faulty forensic science sometimes makes its way into the courtroom where jurors must evaluate its credibility,” the report abstract states. “But at least two factors […]

Ninety-eight people who are incarcerated in a federal prison in this country have died from COVID-19 in the past four months, and North Carolina is bearing the brunt of those losses with 25 deaths out of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex. There have also been six deaths in state-run prisons in North Carolina. Save for […]

This week’s Duke Center for Science and Justice Crim Works in Progress webinar featured a presentation by Paul Heaton on his work about how enhanced public defense can improve pretrial outcomes and reduce racial disparities. Heaton, Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a Senior Fellow and Academic Director of the Quattrone Center, […]

Police chiefs across the state have been invited to participate in a pilot program run by the UNC School of Government’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab (CJIL) and the NCACP: The Citation Project, which seeks to improve policing practices through implementation and rigorous evaluation of a model citation in lieu of arrest policy. Last week, the North Carolina […]

The Washington Post editorial board weighed in recently about the unfair practice of suspending driver’s licenses over nonpayment of court fines and fees, calling the policy “self-defeating” to public safety. Last week, the Senate introduced the bipartisan Driving for Opportunity Act to create incentives to stop debt-based driver’s license suspensions. Read more about the pros of […]

Duke Center for Science and Justice Postdoctoral Research Fellow Travis Seale-Carlisle has authored, along with other academics, a pre-print under review about how police should test a witness’s memory of a criminal perpetrator. Seale-Carlisle has been a postdoc with the Center for 10 months. He said the technology identified in the paper has strong potential […]

Roy Cooper may become the first North Carolina governor in more than 40 years to complete a term without granting clemency to a single person, which includes sentence commutations and pardons of forgiveness or innocence. Three faculty at the Duke Law Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility wrote a strong editorial this week calling […]

While people across the nation took to the streets to protest the brutal police killing of George Floyd, lawmakers responded by introducing a series of police reform policies. To date, there have been at least 78 pieces of police reform-related legislation, including bills, resolutions and executive orders, introduced in 15 states and Washington, DC. The […]