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 […]
Category: Equity in Criminal Outcomes
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. […]
1 in 3 Americans Impacted by Legal Fees and Fines
Wilson Center Creates Database to Track Policing Legislation
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 […]
1 in 3 Americans Directly Impacted by Legal Fees & Fines
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 […]