Publications

This study involved qualitative interviews with all the assistant district attorneys (ADAs, N = 19) in a mid-sized office with a newly elected progressive DA. Interviews discussed how ADAs implemented office policies and progressive goals in plea bargaining. Prosecutors described working to implement five main progressive goals in their plea decisions: (a) dismissing low-level drug possession charges; (b) avoiding over-penalization, particularly for “victimless” crimes; (c) declining to prosecute weak cases; (d) encouraging open communication with defense; and (e) promoting racial equity. Prosecutors’ descriptions of how these goals guided case decisions illuminate how progressive prosecution may affect the criminal justice system through plea bargaining. By: Catherine A. Grodensky William E. Crozier Elizabeth J. Gifford Brandon L. Garrett — Criminal Justice and Behavior (2023)

This editorial essay opens the special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems guest edited by Jeffrey Swanson, Marvin Swartz and Brandon Garrett (2023).

This report, conducted in collaboaration with the Sanford School of Public Policy analyzes the Durham Police Department’s recent performance in investigating shootings, both fatal and nonfatal. (2023)

Wilson Center Faculty Director Brandon Garrett serves as independent monitor for the landmark federal bail reform settlement in Harris County, TX. This first report by the monitor team describes the first three years of work evaluating the implementation of the misdemeanor bail reforms in Harris County, Texas. (2023)

This amicus brief argues that a non-independent, “surrogate” expert witness violates Rule 703 of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence and the Confrontation clause of the sixth amendment when they simply parrot or read language of the original analyst report.

The Wilson Center and the Durham County District Attorney’s Office conducted a collaborative, data-driven effort to better understand the plea negotiation process. This report describes data on 325 felony cases that were entered into the tracker over 249 business days, from April 12, 2021, to April 12, 2022. (2023)

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).

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).

A fact sheet on Driver’s License Suspension in North Carolina

A fact sheet on Juvenile Life Without Parole in North Carolina