As a freshman competing in moot court, Karina Lu was assigned a hypothetical case about a juvenile given a virtual life sentence. She started reading Eighth Amendment case law, trying to understand what the Constitution actually permits under “cruel and unusual punishment,” and found the question harder to put down than she expected. The following […]
Category: Student Spotlight
Speaking Up for Youth: Law Student Daniela Hernandez-Gil on Juvenile Justice Advocacy
For rising Duke Law 3L Daniela Hernandez-Gil, working with the Wilson Center for Science and Justice has meant standing alongside young people navigating one of the most difficult moments of their lives. As a a member of our McAtee JustScience Lab student supporting Sam Lawrence’s work with incarcerated children, much of Dani’s work centers on […]
From Research to Real-World Impact: Lessons from My Time at the Wilson Center
Samantha Richter Reflects on her Time in Our McAtee JustScience Lab I replayed the same forty-five seconds of audio three times before I realized I’d stopped transcribing altogether. It was 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday in my second semester of freshman year. My roommate had just gotten home, filling our dorm with the familiar sounds […]
Watching Closely: Research Assistant Anya Milberg on Bail, Oversight, and Her Work with the Wilson Center
The Case That Started It All In 2016, a woman named Maranda ODonnell was stopped by police while driving to pick up her four-year-old daughter. The charge was driving with a suspended license. A Harris County judge set her bail at $2,500. She couldn’t pay it. She sat in jail, not because she posed any […]