News

The Wilson Center is evaluating community sentiment of ShotSpotter. To do this, we are holding focus group conversations in the neighborhoods where ShotSpotter has been piloted in Durham. We hope the findings from this study will help to inform Durham City Council’s decision on whether to extend the contract with ShotSpotter. Currently, the technology is […]

This week marks the third anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd. In the first year after Floyd’s death, 1,489 bills relating to police violence were proposed. However, only 169 became law. That is just one of the findings in a database created by the Wilson Center for Science and Justice to better understand lawmaking in […]

At least 17 million families with children sacrifice essentials due to court debt The United States’ overreliance on legal fees and fines is directly impacting one in three American families, according to a new survey just released from the Fines and Fees Justice Center and the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law. The new report exposes […]

Today the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law releases a new Policy Brief: Ensuring Access to Medicaid During and After Incarceration: Key Policy Considerations in the Wake of Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina. On March 27, 2023, Governor Roy Cooper signed legislation to expand access to Medicaid, which will make an estimated 600,000 North […]

Durham Events Spotlight Stories from the Criminal Legal System DURHAM, N.C. – April has been proclaimed Second Chance Month in North Carolina, Durham County and nationally. Each year, Second Chance Month highlights the importance – to individuals and communities – of helping people successfully return from incarceration. Members of the public and press are invited […]

East Lansing, Michigan hosted a public hearing in March on police use of force that included experts and community members. Center Policy Director Angie Weis Gammell was invited to speak at this hearing on best practices for use of force policies. Weis Gammell presented the American Law Institute’s Use of Force Principles and discussed how East Lansing […]

Center Faculty Director Brandon Garrett, the Independent Bail Monitor in the ODonnell v. Harris County Consent Decree, and Deputy Monitor Sandra Guerra Thompson released their sixth 6-month report last month. The Consent Decree introduced large-scale bail reforms with secured money bonds no longer required for most misdemeanor cases. The monitors found that public safety continues to benefit. Bail reforms […]

Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued two important decisions concerning the way our state imposes prison time on people who committed crimes when they were children. In State v. Kelliher and State v. Conner, the Court reiterated that children are different than adults and that the North Carolina Constitution imposes “limits on the […]