This study examines national surveys sampling more than 12,000 people, finding that a majority of Americans consider false acquittals and false convictions to be errors of equal magnitude. Most people are unwilling to err on the side of letting the guilty go free to avoid convicting the innocent. Indeed, a sizeable minority view false acquittals […]
Publication Type: Articles
North Carolina Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Considerations for Optimizing Eligibility and Referral
This study used mixed-methods data collection and both quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate policy, program and practice implications in NC LEAD programs. By Allison R. Gilbert, Reah Siegel, Michele M. Easter, Meret S. Hofer, Josie Caves Sivaraman, Deniz Ariturk, Jeffrey W. Swanson, Marvin S. Swartz, Ruth Wygle & Grace Feng — Law and Contemporary Problems (2023) […]
Policing and Behavioral Health Conditions
This editorial essay, focused on policing and behavioral health conditions, opens the special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems guest edited by Jeffrey Swanson, Marvin Swartz and Brandon Garrett (2023). Read the article
The Law and Science of Eyewitness Identifications
This article examines how legal actors—state and federal courts, state lawmakers, and police agencies—have responded to research on eyewitness evidence. Thomas Albright & Brandon L. Garrett, The Law and Science of Eyewitness Evidence, 102 Boston Univ. L. Rev. 511 (2022). Read the article
Viral Injustice
This article takes a comprehensive look at the decisional law growing out of COVID-19 detainee litigation and situates the judicial response as part of a comprehensive institutional failure. Brandon L. Garrett & Lee Kovarsky, Viral Injustice, 110 Calif. L. Rev. 117 (2022). Read the article
Court Date Reminders Reduce Court Nonappearance: A Meta-Analysis
This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that examined whether providing people with a postcard, phone call, or text message reminder of their court date reduces their likelihood of failing to appear in court. By: Samantha A. Zottola, William E. Crozier, Deniz Ariturk, and Sarah L. Desmarais — Criminology and Public Policy (2022). Read […]
Jail Health and Early Release Practices
This article describes insights from qualitative interviews with jail medical staff in four states, to explore what challenges face delivery of healthcare, but more specifically, when health-based needs require counsel releasing individuals from jail. It describes widespread informal and unwritten mechanisms for health-based releases from jails and how such practices have implications for reforming the […]
Information Loss, Contextual Information, and Distinctiveness Influence How Well Novice Analysts Discriminate Fingerprints
This study investigated the role of information loss, contextual information, and distinctive features of fingerprints on novice’s ability to judge whether two fingerprints came from the same source. By: Jessica Marcon Zabecki, Adele Quigley-McBride, and Christian A. Meissner — Applied Cognitive Psychology (2022). Read the article
The Trajectory of Federal Gun Crimes
This article argues federal gun crimes reflect a unique dynamic in which legislation is shaped by three forces: (1) aggressive interest group lobbying that leads to compromise on harsh punishment; (2) a dichotomizing of gun users into either “law-abiding citizens” or “thugs” and “gangsters”; and (3) prosecutorial power that is magnified in this area. By: […]
Policing Forensic Evidence
This article delves into a central problem in forensics: that the function has been treated as a law enforcement rather than scientific function and as a result has undermined both public safety and fairness. By: Brandon Garrett — American Journal of Law and Equality (2022). Read the article