Beginning in early 2019, the judges and prosecutors in Durham, North Carolina, adopted new bail policies, reflecting a shift in the pretrial detention framework. This essay provides a firsthand look into the pretrial detention data following these substantive policy changes, and the observations serve as a reflection on how the changes in Durham reflect broader […]
Publication Type: Articles
Wrongful Convictions
This article, first published in the Academy for Justice, A Report on Scholarship and Criminal Justice Reform and then updated and published in the Annual Review of Criminology, describes a revolution in criminal procedure and in law and science research, in response to wrongful convictions. By Brandon Garrett (2020). Read the article
Convicting with confidence? Why we should not over-rely on eyewitness confidence
Shari R. Berkowitz, Brandon L. Garrett, Kimberly M. Fenn & Elizabeth F. Loftus in Memory 30:1 The authors review what we actually know and do not know about the “initial confidence” of eyewitnesses in the DNA exoneration cases and new research that reveals numerous conditions wherein eyewitnesses with high initial confidence end up being wrong. Read […]
Juror Appraisals of Forensic Evidence: Effects of Blind Proficiency and Cross-Examination
As part of efforts to improve the reliability of forensic evidence, scientific and policy groups increasingly recommend routine and blind proficiency tests of practitioners. After conducting three studies, results suggest that disclosing results of blind proficiency testing can inform jury decision-making, and further, that defense lawyering can make proficiency information particularly salient at a criminal […]
Gender-Specific Participation and Outcomes among Jail Diversion Clients with Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders
This study examined the effects of jail diversion participation on treatment utilization, arrest, and incarceration, separately for men and women. By: Allison G. Robertson, Michele M. Easter, Hsiu-Ju Lin, Dalia Khoury, Joshua Pierce, Jeffrey W. Swanson, and Marvin S. Swartz – Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (2020). Read the article
Factoring the Role of Eyewitness Evidence in the Courtroom
This study examined the effect of eyewitnesses’ expressed confidence on prospective jurors. By: Brandon L. Garrett, Alice Liu, Karen Kafadar, Joanne Yaffe, and Chad S. Dodson – Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2020). Read the article
Eyewitness identification speed: Slow identifications from highly confident eyewitnesses hurt perceptions of their testimony.
How persuasive is eyewitness confidence? Are highly confident eyewitnesses so persuasive that their testimony overshadows other countervailing evidence? To answer these questions, participants evaluated a highly confident eyewitness’s lineup identification. Participants learned that an eyewitness either quickly identified the suspect (e.g., “I’m sure it’s him. I identified him instantly.”), slowly identified the suspect (e.g., “I’m […]
Impact of Psychiatric Advance Directive Facilitation on Mental Health Consumers: Empowerment, Treatment Attitudes, and the Role of Peer Support Specialists
This study implemented PAD (psychiatric advanced directives) facilitation in assertive community treatment (ACT) teams and examined ACT clients’ attitudes toward PAD facilitators, satisfaction with PAD facilitation, the short-term impact of PAD completion on subjective sense of empowerment and attitudes toward treatment, and whether the type of PAD facilitator made a difference. By: Michele M. Easter, […]
Risk assessment in sentencing and plea bargaining: The roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys
This article explores the extent to which considerations of risk are made among prosecutors and defense attorneys when advocating for given sentences in open court or during plea negotiations. The authors surveyed all prosecutors and defense attorneys in 14 judicial circuits in Virginia and found that most prosecutors and defense attorneys at least “sometimes” explicitly […]
Wealth, Equality, and Due Process
“Equal process” claims arise from a line of Supreme Court and lower court cases in which wealth inequality is the central concern. That equal process connection is at the forefront of a wave of national litigation concerning some of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time, including: the constitutionality of fines, fees, and […]