News

The Center for Science and Justice is committed to improving the reliability and fairness of our criminal justice system through effective and meaningful research. Improving the justice system, however, depends on more than research; a fair and reliable justice system requires effective representation through skilled and well-resourced public defenders.  Public defense is all too often […]

CSAFE, which supports forensic research at Duke Law, wins federal renewal for another five-year term At Duke Law, funds from the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence are used to improve the way forensic evidence is used in the courts. DNA exoneree Keith Harward told his story at the CSAFE conference hosted by Duke Law […]

New op-ed at NC Policy Watch by Dr. Allison Robertson, PhD, MPH – an Associate Professor in the Services Effectiveness Research Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, and faculty member with Duke Law Center for Science and Justice. Dr. Robertson is currently researching a series of LEAD programs in North Carolina – and […]

Just published this past week – John Monahan and Brandon Garrett’s piece “Judging Risk” in the California Law Review.  The abstract: Risk assessment plays an increasingly pervasive role in criminal justice in the United States at all stages of the process-from policing to pretrial detention, sentencing, corrections, and parole. As efforts to reduce mass incarceration […]

A panel discussion, launching Duke CSJ’s new report and website on fines and fees in criminal cases, with the NC ACLU’s Kristie Puckett Williams, Cristina Becker, NC Justice Center’s Daniel Bowes, and Forward Justice’s Whitley Carpenter, Fines and Fees Justice Center’s Joanna Weiss, and Duke CSJ Director Brandon Garrett and Executive Director Tom Maher. To […]

Read this new op-ed in NC Policy Watch by Dr. Marvin Swartz, “Assistance for incarcerated people discharged during the pandemic: The humane and constitutional thing to do.”  Dr. Swartz, who heads the Division of Social & Community Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Duke University and is faculty in the Duke […]

by Dr. Allison Robertson, Associate Professor, Services Effectiveness Research Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine Much important attention is focusing on how the COVID-19 pandemic is gravely affecting people who are incarcerated in US jails and prisons, a crisis that is worsening daily. There are also very serious concerns about justice-involved people who […]

Updated May 4, 2020:  On April 23, this post discussed the use of consent MAR’s to address the risk from COVID-19 to individuals in North Carolina’s prisons.  Since then, the risk from COVID-19 in prisons has increased. Pending litigation challenges the response from the prison system to COVID-19.  In response to the litigation, Superior Court […]