Publications

In this article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, the authors surveyed 76 experimental psychologists for their opinions on eyewitness memory phenomena. They compared these current expert opinions to expert opinions from the past several decades. They found that experts today share many of the same opinions as experts in the past and have more nuanced thoughts about two issues. Experts in the past endorsed the idea that confidence is weakly related to accuracy, but experts today acknowledge the potential diagnostic value of initial confidence collected from a properly administered lineup. In addition, experts in the past may have favored sequential over simultaneous lineup presentation, but experts today are divided on this issue. This new survey provides important information and context to courts and to other stakeholders of eyewitness research. By Travis M. Seale-Carlisle, Adele Quigley-McBride, Jennifer E. F. Teitcher, William E. Crozier, Chad S. Dodson, and Brandon L. Garrett.

Wilson Center Faculty Director Brandon Garrett serves as independent monitor for the landmark federal bail reform settlement in Harris County, TX. This seventh report by the monitor team describes the first four years of work evaluating the implementation of the misdemeanor bail reforms in Harris County, Texas. (2024)

The ShotSpotter pilot was deployed from December 15, 2022 – December 14, 2023 in a three-square-mile area of Durham that have historically had comparatively high rates of gun violence. This examines the performance of ShotSpotter in the pilot area and is authored by Philip Cook, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Economics, Duke University, and Adam Soliman, Assistant Professor of Economics, Clemson University. It delves into ShotSpotter’s effects on notifications and police deployment; productivity of investigations; and the costs to the city’s budget and police resources. 

In July 2023, the Wilson Center conducted nine focus groups and two individual interviews, with a total of 30 participants who live in the ShotSpotter pilot area in Durham, North Carolina. Participants were asked to discuss their perceptions of safety, gun violence, policing in their neighborhoods, ShotSpotter technology, and changes in policing or violence since the ShotSpotter pilot began. This report summarizes and analyzes those findings and identifies key policy considerations for the City as they weigh whether to continue ShotSpotter.

This white paper describes recent research by Dawn Sweet, Adele Quigley McBride, and Chris Meissner that found that trained police officers and lay persons were equally bad at determining whether people were concealing dangerous or illegal objects. Indeed, there is no evidence that anyone can determine whether someone is concealing simply by observing people from a distance as there are no objective, reliable, observable predictors that indicate a person is concealing.  Thus this white paper argues that it is misguided to train officers to look for “articulable behaviors” as clues that someone is hiding contraband and that courts should reconsider their approach to assessing the evidence presented by police to justify interactions with civilians allowed under Terry.

By Adele Quigley-McBride

This policy brief discusses how and why North Carolina must rethink its approach to criminal fines and fees. By Lindsay Bass-Patel and Angie Weis Gammell.

Center Faculty Director Brandon Garrett along with Duke Computer Science Professor Cynthia Rudin wrote about the growing use of “black box” artificial intelligence (AI) in the criminal legal system, which lacks transparency in how the technology works. Garrett and Rudin describe how “glass box” AI—designed to be interpretable—can be more accurate than black box alternatives. In fact, black box AI performs worse in settings like the criminal system. Given that, they argue for judicial rulings and legislation to safeguard a right to interpretable forensic AI.

The rate of homelessness among formerly incarcerated individuals is ten times higher than that of the general population. Thus, addressing the housing needs of this population is crucial for improving housing access and stability overall. This policy brief outlines the relationship between housing and the criminal legal system and sets forth recommendations to improve housing access for people impacted by the criminal legal system. By: Megan Moore and Angie Weis Gammell.

This study investigated Emergency Department (ED) use by people incarcerated in jails. The authors found that frequent ED use was associated with more frequent jail bookings and with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder. By: Michele M Easter, Nicole L Schramm-Sapyta, Maria A Tackett, Isabella G Larsen, Becky Tang, Matthew A Ralph, Luong N Huynh — Journal of Correctional Health Care (2023)

This article opens the “black box” of prosecutorial discretion by tasking prosecutors with documenting detailed case-level information concerning plea bargaining. The article describes how the data-collection methodology was designed, piloted, and implemented, as well as the insights that have been generated and the wider implications for the judicial process across the country. By: Brandon L. Garrett, William E. Crozier, Kevin Dahaghi, Elizabeth J. Gifford, Catherine Grodensky, Adele Quigley-McBride, and Jennifer Teitcher — Stanford Law Review (2023)