Month June 2020

by Ben Finholt, Director of the Just Sentencing Project at NCPLS and an Affiliated Fellow of the CSJ After Gov. Cooper declared a state of emergency based on the global COVID-19 pandemic, advocates immediately began calling for the North Carolina… Continue Reading →

Yesterday, Judge Vinston Rozier, Jr. issued a Preliminary Injunction to the State of North Carolina, regarding COVID in prisons. Here is the Order:  20 CVS 500110 Order on PI with COS.  The Judge explained: “Thousands of these individuals in Defendants’… Continue Reading →

In Mental Health Policy in the Era of COVID-19, a new piece in Psychiatric Services, Dr. Marvin Swartz and colleagues – all members of the Psychiatric Services Policy Advisory Group – describe: The response to the global COVID-19 pandemic has important… Continue Reading →

In Jones v. Martinsburg, the Fourth Circuit remanded a case that the trial court had dismissed on qualified immunity grounds, beginning with this overview: “In 2013, Wayne Jones, a black man experiencing homelessness, was stopped by law enforcement in Martinsburg, West… Continue Reading →

Here a YouTube link to the briefing – with colleagues Darrell Miller, Professor of Law and co-Director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law, and Laura F. Edwards, Duke Professor of History:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6L8FV2r40&list=PLYZhPUaJyXIZ_XZOA9D_O4svlPYPOx8JZ  

Today, the Center for Science and Justice joins the Policing Project at NYU Law, the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law,  the Innovative Policing Program at Georgetown Law School, the Criminal Justice Program, Vanderbilt University, and Center for Criminal Justice at… Continue Reading →

Race and injustice are central to the story of innocence and DNA exonerations in the U.S. Racial disparity is glaring in these DNA exonerees’ cases. Many more DNA exonerees were minorities than is typical even among average and already racially… Continue Reading →

For weekend reading or re-reading: From Pew: 10 Things We Know About Race and Policing. And Seth Stoughton on 8 Things We Get Wrong About Policing.  With Geoffrey Alpert and Jeffrey Nobel on How to Actually Fix America’s Police. And… Continue Reading →

We grieve for George Floyd’s family and write to express our deep support for all who stand for justice in his case and in so many others.  We have a three-part mission at the Center for Science and Justice: to… Continue Reading →