Equal Justice Works Fellow Sam Lawrence is working to ensure children have an advocate while they are incarcerated—and building a model for broader access to counsel Sam Lawrence In most states, a child’s right to counsel ends at disposition, meaning kids sent to youth prisons typically never speak to a lawyer while they are there. […]
Category: Homepage News
A Path Forward
New Report: How Unauthorized Practice of Law Reform Can Increase Psychiatric Advance Directive Completion in North Carolina Psychiatric advance directives (PADs) give people living with serious mental illness an important opportunity to plan for future mental health crises while they are able to make and communicate their own decisions. By documenting treatment preferences and appointing […]
Sozosei Foundation Grant Will Expand Wilson Center’s Critical Leadership on Psychiatric Advance Directives
This funding will support national outreach, training, education, and implementation to help more people shape their own care and avoid unnecessary criminal legal system involvement A new $100,000 grant from the Sozosei Foundation will support the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law in expanding access to Psychiatric Advance Directives (PADs), legal tools […]
Beyond Protecting the Innocent
What Americans Really Think About Justice System Errors When a criminal trial goes wrong, either an innocent person is convicted, or a guilty person goes free. Under the U.S. Constitution, the first error has long been understood to be far worse than the second. The Supreme Court has often quoted the English jurist Sir William […]
Psychiatric Advanced Directives: An Underutilized Practice That Could Change Psychiatric Crisis Care
Filling a Gap: Our Work on Psychiatric Advanced Directives Dr. Marvin Swartz is the lead of the Behavioral Health Team at the Wilson Center for Science and Justice, a Professor at Duke University School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Services Effectiveness Research Program. Throughout his career studying mental health care across emergency departments, inpatient […]
The Field Drug Test Problem: Inaccurate, Widely Used, and a Pervasive Injustice in North Carolina
This is part two of a two-part series. For an overview of these tests, check out part one. The Problem In Iowa, a mother went public after her daughter was expelled from school when a cookie she brought to class tested positive for marijuana on a colorimetric field drug test. The cookie contained no marijuana. […]
False Positive: The $2 Drug Test Behind Thousands of Wrongful Arrests
The Scenario Imagine you are a college student driving home after a late practice. Your gym bag is in the backseat, there’s chalk on your hands, and a torn Splenda packet from this morning’s coffee is sitting open on the passenger seat. You get pulled over for a broken taillight. The officer spots the white powder […]
Does Suspending a License Really Get People to Court?
Driver’s license suspensions are often defended as a tool for accountability. North Carolina data shows it hasn’t solved the problem and has lasting consequences. In 2025, law enforcement across North Carolina made more than a million traffic stops. Most ended in a warning or no action at all. Of the citations that were issued, for […]
Duke University Researchers Launch Interdisciplinary SAFE HOPE Study to Evaluate Durham Guaranteed Basic Income Program for Reentering Community Members
New Durham-based pilot study explores the impact of choice in direct financial assistance programs on health and recidivism for formerly incarcerated adults Researchers at the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, Duke University School of Nursing, and the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences have partnered to launch SAFE HOPE (Supporting Adult […]
Recap: From Punishment to Prevention
Driver’s License Suspensions: What Other States are Doing Differently Watch the full panel above. On April 23rd, the Wilson Center for Science and Justice hosted the third and final installment of the Life on Hold series. After earlier sessions examined how driver’s license suspensions affect North Carolinians(opens in new tab) and why people miss court […]