By Jenna Prochnau A recent paper in Psychiatric Services co-authored by the Wilson Center’s Dr. Marvin S. Swartz explores the potential for Medicaid coverage to be used to develop and sustain peer support services for incarcerated people with mental illnesses, these are peers with shared criminal justice experience. Swartz and co-authors Dr. Andrew D. Carlo […]
Category: Student Work
Feature: Local DEAR Program Helping Residents Restore Licenses
By Ruthie Kesri The Durham Expunction And Restoration (DEAR) program provides free legal services to in-need Durham residents to file expunction petitions and restore suspended or revoked drivers’ licenses. DEAR’s mission centers on ensuring all people have equal access to legal relief. The program has identified that having a criminal record or a suspended driver’s […]
Aya Gruber Talks Feminist War on Crime at Novel Justice Event
By Annie Han On April 6th, Aya Gruber, professor at the University of Colorado Law School, joined the Wilson Center for the last Novel Justice event of the spring. She delved into her book The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration, which documents the American feminists’ role in […]
Planning Underway for Crisis/Diversion Facility in Orange County
By Ruthie Kesri Plans for a novel Crisis/Diversion facility are currently underway in Orange County. The facility, which will be dedicated to providing behavioral health crisis services and criminal justice diversion, will be the first of its kind in the county. “We have so many good things in place here,” said Caitlin Fenhagen, the Director […]
Viral Injustice: COVID-19 is Disproportionately Impacting Incarcerated Population
By Annie Han The COVID-19 Pandemic has disproportionately impacted people incarcerated in the US with 28% of the current incarcerated population testing positive for the virus compared to 9% of the general population. These outbreaks in prisons present serious health risks to the incarcerated, staff, and communities surrounding them, and they have forced courts to […]
Governor Creates Board to Review Juvenile Sentences
By Ruthie Kesri Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced the creation of a four-person advisory board to review the prison sentences of juveniles. “Developments in science continue to show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds,” Cooper said in a press release. “For those who have taken significant steps to reform and rehabilitate themselves, this process […]
NC Considers Raising Minimum Age of Prosecution From 6 to 10
By Annie Han “The 6-year-old dangled his legs above the floor as he sat at the table with his defense attorney,” said Virginia Bridges of the Durham Herald Sun. In March 2021, an article by Bridges described the case of a young boy forced to appear in court for picking a tulip from a lawn […]
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Focuses on Services and Treatment Over Arrest
By De’Ja Wood Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a community-based diversion program with the goal of reimagining public safety by decriminalizing drug abuse. Within LEAD, officers reduce unnecessary justice involvement for those struggling with substance use by connecting people who use drugs to services and treatment that prioritize their health and wellbeing. On Thursday, […]
Event Recap: A Blueprint for Bail Reform
By Chinmay Amin In Harris County, Texas, hearing officers and judges in low-level misdemeanor cases had relied on a cash-bail system prior to 2019. In setting misdemeanor bail, the hearing officers and judges did not routinely inquire into public safety, flight risk, or whether a defendant was homeless, indigent, or unable to pay. In most […]
Amicus: NC Court Should Not Have Admitted Dentist as Expert on Bite Mark Evidence
By Belle Allmendinger A trial court in North Carolina should not have admitted as an expert a dentist who testified about bite mark evidence in State v. Jonathan Richardson, given the “unanimous scientific consensus that this type of evidence is inherently unreliable.” An amicus brief setting out the reliability concerns inherent in bite mark analysis, […]