Recently we were pleased to host David McAtee (A.B. '91) here at the Wilson Center! His generous gift earlier this year established our McAtee JustScience Lab, and he got to meet with several of our students to hear about the great work they're doing to make real change in the criminal legal system.

Happy Constitution Day! Today commemorates the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. In honor of today, watch our faculty director @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social discussing how the Constitution protects due process. youtube.com/shorts/VKKkD...

Cashless bail has been in the news lately, but how does it work and what impact has it had on crime and detention rates? Check out this interview with Sandra Guerra Thompson, Deputy Monitor with @brandonlgarrett.bsky.app in the ODonnell v. Harris County Consent Decree. www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

This week, President Trump signed an executive order directing the AG to submit a list of jurisdictions with cashless bail policies & instructs the Administration to identify Federal funds provided to cashless bail jurisdictions that may be suspended or terminated. www.nytimes.com/article/cash...

"What we found is providing those due process protections actually help them and reduce crime. Fewer people in jail and less crime -- both good things happened. It was not zero sum at all." Check out @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social chatting with @profmmurray.bsky.social on @strictscrutiny.bsky.social!

📊 Out Now! Wilson Center launches new driver’s license suspension dashboard. This new tool allows researchers, policy makers, and community members to dive deep into court dept and driver's license suspensions across North Carolina. Learn more at wcsj.law.duke.edu/news/wilson-...

The Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law has received a generous gift from Duke University alumnus David McAtee (A.B. ‘91) to establish the McAtee JustScience Lab, a visionary initiative at the Center. Learn more at wcsj.law.duke.edu/news/gift-fr...

"By...granting clemency, governors would recognize & value the potential for redemption in the American prison system...Each grant of clemency could motivate other prisoners to take responsibility for their actions & to make redoubled efforts to grow & become better." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/o...

In our latest report: misdemeanor cash bail elimination associated with improved public safety. We examined how changes since the implementation of new bail policies as a result of the ODonnell v. Harris County Settlement have affected the community. Learn more: wcsj.law.duke.edu/news/ending-...

Out this week! A special edition of Law and Human Behavior’s on Justice, Legitimacy, and Technology. This edition was guest co-edited by our Faculty Director @brandonlgarrett.bsy.social along with David DeMatteo and Christopher King. Check out the issue: psycnet.apa.org/PsycARTICLES...

Why does forensics reform matter? Professor Maneka Sinha, Professor of Law at @umaryland.edu Law School where she leads the Forensic Defense Clinic walks us through it. Learn more and access the full toolkit at forensicsreform.com.

Have you checked out our Forensics Reform Toolkit? @[email protected] talks us through how to use it. Learn more and access the full toolkit at forensicsreform.com.

From our faculty director @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social!

My latest for @theappeal.org: James Carver spent 36 years in prison after he was convicted of setting one of the deadliest fires in #Massachusetts history. But after reviewing new scientific evidence, a judge set him free. “They took my life away for nothing,” Carver said.

"[Habeas corpus] has played a crucial role in many emergencies and wars during our history. And courts have consistently emphasized that habeas provides its strongest protections when the executive seeks to detain people without a trial." - @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social. time.com/7284743/what...

It was such a pleasure and honor to discuss my new book, Defending Due Process, with Jim Coleman, @dukelaw.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/AHM4JiY...

"These are [prosecutors'] errors, after all...No one says, ‘Oh, wow, they’re really going the extra mile at Boeing when they’re trying to figure out why planes crashed.’ No, this is actually their job.” [email protected] today in @injusticewatch.org on prosecutor accountability.

"When an an AI system links a person's face to a still from surveillance video, recommends whether to detain a person in jail, or responds with 'situational awareness' to a national security threat, what assurance is there that this system can be trusted?" - @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social

This week, our faculty director @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social is over at @volokhc.bsky.social talking his new book Defending Due Process. Follow along over at @reason.com.

"This new law would expand mandatory detention to people simply arrested for or charged with such crimes, regardless of whether they actually committed them...[raising]serious due process issues." [email protected], Kate Evans, & Elana Fogel today in The Hill: thehill.com/opinion/cong...

On defending due process & the Laken Riley Act, with Kate Evans and Elana Fogel thehill.com/opinion/cong...

"Common ground on due process matters now more than ever, to mend political polarization, to cool simmering distrust of government, and to safeguard our constitutional rights." — Faculty Director @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social. Learn more about his upcoming book at the link!

"15 people had their death sentences commuted. That was a historic act...historic, but incremental. And so the question is, what will the years to come bring for the death penalty in North Carolina?" — @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social. Listen to the full interview: ncnewsline.com/2025/01/13/d...

New article out now from Bolts by Phillip Vance Smith II, and featuring an interview from our Executive Director Yvette Garcia Missri. North Carolina has expanded medical release by statute, but are incarcerated people able to access this provision?

Such important legislation in NC, the product of hard work by NC-Cure and @wilsoncsj.bsky.social - but sustained, careful implementation is needed.

Today from @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social: "With his action, Cooper acknowledged, in detailing a series of factors these cases implicated, the death penalty’s flaws and the responsibility of elected leaders to move away from this failed policy." Read more at www.newsobserver.com/opinion/arti...

“The Presidents bold decision to commute federal death sentences today reflects the time-worn lesson that the death penalty is costly, error-prone, arbitrary, and simply does not work” --Faculty Director @brandonlgarrett.bsky.social on today's historic act of clemency. www.npr.org/2024/12/23/g...

Exoneree compensation in the US - a new report and overview with the wonderful Luke Mears @wilsoncsj.bsky.social wcsj.law.duke.edu/wp-content/u...

Today, President Biden commuted the sentences of 1500 people and pardoned 39 others, the largest single-day act of clemency. We are pleased to see the president exercise his power to give hundreds of people a second chance and hope many more are to come. www.npr.org/2024/12/12/n...

We are pleased to see that Gov. Cooper has issued six commutations & two pardons of innocence. Four of those people - Terence Smith, George Lesane, Donte Santiago, and Kirston Angell - were sentenced as children. Mr. Smith was represented by Johanna Jennings during her time working with the Center.