News

I have been reading The Shadow Bargainers,  a detailed study on plea bargaining practices in several public defender offices.  Ronald Wright, recognized for important research on prosecutors, plea bargaining and other issues, Jenny Roberts, a recognized authority on collateral consequences and public defense, and Wake Forest University Professor of Politics and International Affairs Betina Wilkinson, […]

Can a person be pulled over based on reasonable suspicion for driving with a revoked license? In Kansas v. Glover, the Supreme Court answered yes.  The trial court had said that merely running the plates, if one does not know who the driver is, is not enough. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, finding ample support […]

A new piece in the Washington Post’s True Crime Blog: “One target of the criminal justice reform movement has been the use of fines and fees by state and local courts to either help finance a local government, or incarcerate people simply for their inability to pay. Though many jurisdictions have rolled back such practices, […]

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 […]