The epidemic of gun violence in the United States is a multifaceted problem that claimed nearly 47,000 lives in 2023. Firearm injuries and deaths touch countless others as well – from bereaved family members to affected communities suffering the collective loss and trauma of everyday gun violence. In a nation where private ownership of firearms […]
Category: Equity in Criminal Outcomes
Highlights from our Beyond Bars Event
We were so grateful to partner with the Nasher Museum to host an event in conjunction with the exhibit Processing Systems: Numbers by Sherrill Roland. The exhibit features work by Sherrill Roland, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of North Carolina from his ongoing exploration of the criminal justice system. The works are part […]
Recap: Community-Based Approaches to Gun Violence
“I’ve never met a single person who has come from prison for killing someone with a gun, who hasn’t been harmed at some point in their life,” said Co-Chair of the Durham City and County Taskforce on Community Safety Marcia Owens. Her comment gets to the heart of an issue surrounding gun violence. How can […]
Seventh Report Released in the ODonnell Consent Decree Monitorship
Latest Houston Bail Monitor Report Shows Overall Decline in Misdemeanor Arrests with No Negative Effect on Public Safety Houston, TX — On Sunday, the independent monitors overseeing Harris County’s historic bail reform agreement filed their seventh report describing their work and findings with the federal court, noting that bail reforms under the ODonnell Consent Decree […]
Houston Bail Monitor Report Released
Evaluation of Durham’s ShotSpotter Installation
ShotSpotter evaluation shows increased gunshot notifications, quicker police response times, and more arrests, but questions of accuracy and impact remain, and many focus group participants expressed skepticism ShotSpotter more than doubled gunshot notifications in the Durham pilot area and led to a 1.2-minute reduction in median police response time, researchers were unable to draw conclusions […]
When the Dollars Don’t Add Up to Sense
The Wilson Center releases new policy brief on criminal fines and fees in North Carolina One in three Americans has been directly impacted by fines and fees related to traffic, criminal, or juvenile court in the past ten years. More than 650,000 North Carolinians, approximately one in 12 adults, have unpaid criminal court debt. […]
When the Dollars Don’t Add Up to Sense
October is National Youth Justice Action Month
April Scales, who was sentenced to life without parole at age 15 and granted clemency by Governor Cooper through the Juvenile Sentence Review Board process last year, spoke with our JustScience Lab students this month. President Biden has proclaimed October Youth Justice Action Month, designed to raise awareness and educate the public about the impact […]
Wilson Center Makes Recommendations to Improve Housing Access
Finding Home: Removing Barriers to Housing for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Over half a million people in the United States are unhoused, and the rate of homelessness among formerly incarcerated individuals is ten times higher than that of the general population, with justice-impacted Black people being 50% more likely to be unhoused than justice-impacted white people. […]