Publications

This article questions a two-Americas framing of criminal justice and instead suggests that American attitudes have long been far more complex, but also more unified, than often supposed. Most people in fact care about both criminal control and due process. As a result, a range of reform approaches may bridge social, partisan, and identity-based divides to accomplish lasting change. By: Brandon Garrett — Law and Contemporary Problems (2022)

This study investigated how potential jurors’ initial opinions about mentally ill individuals might interact with the order in which opposing expert testimony is presented. By: Lauren Hudachek and Adele Quigley-McBride — Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (2022)

This study surveyed practicing firearm and toolmark examiners about casework as well as their views about the potential role that statistics might play in future firearm examinations and expert witness testimony. By: Nicholas Scurich, Brandon L. Garrett, and Robert M. Thompson — Forensic Science International: Synergy (2022)

Our research team, in consultation with North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, conducted an evaluation of four LEAD sites in North Carolina to determine the program’s effectiveness in reducing criminal justice involvement and increasing service utilization among program enrollees. This is the full report (2022).

Our research team from Duke University School of Medicine, in consultation with North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, conducted an evaluation of four LEAD sites in North Carolina to determine the program’s effectiveness in reducing criminal justice involvement and increasing service utilization among program enrollees. This is the brief report and summary of findings (2022)

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 two and a half years of work evaluating the implementation of the misdemeanor bail reforms in Harris County, Texas. (2022)

Although reports of postidentification confidence are not always reliable indicators of eyewitness accuracy, jurors rely heavily on eyewitness confidence to evaluate eyewitnesses. Face memory ability tests, however, provide objective information about a person’s ability to encode and recognize a face and affects the strength of the connection between confidence statements and accuracy. This study examines how jurors and lay persons might interpret this information. By: Adele Quigley-McBride, William Crozier, Chad S. Dodson, Jennifer Teitcher, and Brandon Garrett — Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (2022).

This amicus brief challenged the reliability of bite mark evidence in Illinois, a Frye state. The brief shows why bite mark evidence is inherently unreliable and urges the Illinois Supreme Court to explicitly declare bite mark evidence inadmissible under Frye. Mr. Prante is represented by the Exoneration Project and the Innocence Project. We filed the brief together with Fox Swibel in Chicago, along with the Innocence Network, legal scholars, scientists and statisticians.

This article provides a lwgislative roadmap for habeas reform through Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) repeal. By: Brandon L. Garrett and Kaitlin Phillips — Cornell Law Review (2022)

Identifying ways to shift public attitudes toward support for alternative approaches to criminalized behavior is necessary to address mass incarceration. This study examines whether education on the impacts of traumatic events may be one strategy to increase such support and whether effects can be amplified through incorporation of growth mindset messaging. By: Eva McKinsey, Sarah L. Desmarais, Jeni L. Burnette, and Brandon L. Garrett — Journal of Experimental Criminology (2022)