By Samantha Richter

A new report from the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law draws on more than a dozen in-depth interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals across North Carolina to uncover the real experiences of people returning from prison and where the system falls short.

Based on interviews conducted across urban and rural counties, this report, Bridging the Gap: Aligning Policy with Lived Experience to Strengthen Reentry in North Carolina examines the experience of people navigating the transition from incarceration to community life and makes recommendations to strengthen the process. Each year, approximately 18,000 people return to North Carolina communities from state prisons. While the state has joined the national initiative to improve reentry success through Reentry 2030, participants in this report described reentry as a critical and vulnerable period, where fragmented services and limited planning times can undermine support, creating a gap between available services and what people need to successfully rebuild their lives.

“What we heard consistently is that reentry isn’t a short-term process,” said report author Samantha Richter (A.B. ‘25). “People need support that is personalized, coordinated, and sustained—and they need systems that listen to their experiences and respond to what helps them succeed.”

Key Findings

Five major themes emerged from participant interviews:

1. Reentering community members need personalized, ongoing support: One-size-fits-all services often left participants feeling unsupported, while peer mentors with lived experience were described as especially effective.

2. Location shapes access and opportunity: Urban areas offered more resources, while limited flexibility around release locations sometimes forced individuals back into environments that undermined their stability.

3. System disconnects create difficulty in navigating resources: Even when resources existed, participants often struggled to access them due to confusion, poor communication, or lack of coordination between agencies

4. Timely, attentive, and thorough pre-release planning is critical for success: Participants consistently emphasized that meaningful preparation requires more than the standard 30-day planning window

5. Reentry services must support long-term stability: Participants repeatedly stressed that reentry challenges did not end in the first few weeks, and sustained support was necessary to build long-term stability.

Policy Recommendations

Grounded in participant experiences, the report outlines six priorities for policymakers and practitioners:

1. Increase flexibility in release location

2. Begin pre-release planning earlier and expand its scope

3. Strengthen employment readiness and employer connections

4. Expand targeted housing supports

5. Improve continuity between prison and community-based services

6. Invest in peer support programs led by people with lived experience

By Fred Butcher and Amanda Cissner

This study examined whether the jail reduction strategies implemented in two SJC sites reduced jail populations without increasing crime or sacrificing community safety. Findings suggest that incarceration can be avoided without negatively impacting public safety, with recidivism rates declining after SJC implementation. Further, less time in jail resulted in greater public safety; shorter jail stays were associated with lower recidivism risk.

By The U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), through its components U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, detains individuals who unlawfully enter the U.S. at short-term holding facilities. CBP personnel process individuals and determine the next course of action, such as transferring them from custody or removing them from the country. For the past decade, CBP has used contracted medical personnel at facilities along the southwest border to provide health screenings and treatment of basic medical conditions to individuals in custody. 

GAO found that CBP developed policies and guidance for providing medical care to individuals in custody but has not consistently implemented them. For example, CBP requires some populations, such as children, pregnant individuals, and adults who indicated they might have an illness or injury, to receive a basic physical exam known as a medical assessment. Although CBP introduced new guidance and improved the percentage of individuals who received medical assessments, GAO found that some individuals still did not receive assessments, as required. For example, 57 percent of adults with a potential illness or injury and 20 percent of pregnant individuals did not receive medical assessments from August 2023 to August 2024, as required. Without an oversight mechanism to ensure that people in custody receive the required medical assessments, CBP may not be aware of medical needs and cannot ensure it takes the appropriate next steps for any necessary medical care. GAO also found that CBP and contracted medical personnel did not consistently implement additional care requirements for individuals in custody who had serious injuries or illnesses (i.e., those who were medically high-risk). For example, from August 2023 to August 2024, contracted medical personnel did not conduct medical monitoring checks required for medically high-risk adults and children approximately 40 percent of the time. In July 2025, CBP developed new tools to inform its oversight efforts, but did not explain how it will use them to systematically assess whether medically high-risk individuals received their medical monitoring checks on time. Developing and implementing a mechanism to monitor this requirement and others would help CBP better ensure these individuals receive required care, and personnel are monitoring their conditions. CBP did not consistently provide medical records and prescriptions—referred to as medical summary forms—as required, to individuals with medical issues leaving CBP custody. By not providing the medical summary forms, CBP can create challenges with continuity of care. GAO also found CBP’s oversight reports did not include data from facilities that do not have contracted medical personnel. These facilities send individuals to local hospitals or urgent care facilities for medical care, including medical assessments. Without these data, CBP cannot ensure all individuals in custody received required medical assessments to decrease the risk of adverse medical outcomes. Moreover, GAO’s analysis showed that CBP did not consistently manage or oversee its medical services contracts.

By: Arto Arman, Andreas Beerli, Aljosha Henkel, Michel André Maréchal

We study how incarceration experience shapes preferences for criminal justice policies. In collaboration with a newly opened prison, we conducted a randomized field experiment that offered citizens the opportunity to experience up to two days of incarceration, closely replicating the real-life journey of inmates. Providing citizens with a chance to gain firsthand incarceration leads to a significant shift in punitive attitudes, with participants becoming less supportive of harsh criminal justice policies and donating more money to organizations advocating more moderate justice policies. Although individuals overestimated the wellbeing of actual prisoners, the intervention did not alter these beliefs. This suggests that the observed changes in policy preferences are driven more by personal experience than by revised beliefs about the burden of confinement. By randomizing institutional exposure outside the laboratory, our study highlights the causal role of personal experience in the formation of policy preferences.

By Taleed El-Sabawi, Shelly Weizman, Regina LaBelle

Civil litigation provides a novel and underutilized source of information about deaths in U.S. jails, particularly when official data are incomplete. This study systematically analyzes verdicts, settlements and judgments to explore patterns in practices linked to preventable mortality in U.S jails. Results: Content analysis of facts alleged in 90 cases filed between 2015 and 2020 revealed thematic patterns related to inadequate or delayed medical care. Alleged facts routinely included observable signs of serious medical need—such as incoherence, convulsions, or pleas for help—followed by failures to provide timely or medically appropriate care. In cases of suicide, allegations commonly describe known mental health conditions, discontinued medication, and lapses in monitoring or suicide prevention protocols. Despite repeated warnings—by the individuals themselves, fellow incarcerated persons, or family members—jail staff frequently failed to act. A small subset of cases resulted in judgments for the defense, often where some care was provided or protocols were followed, even if outcomes were still fatal. Conclusion: These findings suggest that in cases resulting in reported settlements, verdicts or judgments incustody deaths in the U.S. could be prevented through improved intake screening, timely medical monitoring, care coordination, and adherence to established protocols. Litigation records offer important insight into how systemic failures contribute to jail mortality, with implications for policy, public health, and correctional practice.

By Devon Ziminski , Julia P Schleimer and  Meron Girma 

Community violence interventions (CVI) encompass a range of strategies aimed at reducing community firearm violence among those most affected. While CVI is an umbrella term, specific CVI approaches across the United States differ markedly in their underlying theoretical frameworks, specific program activities, and populations served. These different CVI approaches have not been well defined or uniformly understood. Given unprecedented financial support for CVI from local, state, and federal sources in recent years, increased research attention to understanding the implementation and impacts of these programs, and growing efforts by policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders to enact CVI programs, it is important to understand how CVI is defined and characterized in applied discourse (eg, among CVI practitioners, funders, and scholars). This grey literature review aimed to synthesize how CVI practitioners, funders, and scholars commonly characterize CVI approaches and how those approaches relate to previously identified CVI theoretical frameworks. Following processes similar to a scoping review, we conducted a grey literature search to locate and synthesize information from webpages (eg, from community groups and academic organizations) and (non-peer reviewed) reports from web sources discussing CVI approaches. We identified nine main CVI approaches commonly mentioned in applied CVI discourse: 1. Violence interruption/street outreach; 2. Group violence interventions (GVI)/focused deterrence/group violence reduction strategy (GVRS); 3. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP); 4. Built environment/place-based/Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED); 5. Behavioral science interventions/cognitive behavioral interventions; 6. Victim/trauma/survivor programs/resources; 7. Mentoring/fellowship programs; 8. School-based/related youth interventions; and 9. Diversion/deflection programs. These approaches operated at multiple intervention levels and drew on various theoretical frameworks. Findings from this scoping review provide a timely summary of how CVI is characterized in applied discourse, which can support the field in operating from a shared understanding of what constitutes CVI and, in turn, inform CVI research, practice, and policy-making.

Community gun violence in US cities is both rare and highly concentrated. Decades of research and practice show that shootings cluster within a very small number of people, places, and social networks. Effective violence reduction therefore requires identifying and engaging the individuals at very high risk of being involved in gun violence in the immediate future (i.e., very high-risk individuals, or VHRI).

This new brief is designed to support jurisdictions working to implement community violence intervention approaches by improving their ability to identify VHRI. The brief provides 1) a concise synthesis of the research evidence on risk for involvement in community gun violence, and 2) guidance on how to implement structured processes to identify the people driving violence within their communities.

By The Louisville Office of Violence Prevention

The Louisville Metro Gun Violence Dashboard is updated daily, providing users with real-time information regarding criminal homicides and shootings [4]. Offering a broad view of gun violence, the dashboard includes information on year-to-date trends, victim demographics, and mapping visuals that use neighborhood, council districts, ZIP codes, and police districts. Since its launch, the dashboard has received approximately 100,000 views through June 30, 2025.

When a new government was elected in July 2024, they were confronted by a prison capacity crisis in England and Wales. In order to identify long term solutions to this, they established the Independent Sentencing Review (ISR), to be chaired by David Gauke, which was tasked in its terms of reference with ’a comprehensive re-evaluation of our sentencing framework ... to ensure we are never again in a position where the country has more prisoners than prison places‘ (Ministry of Justice, 2024a).

Before that was even launched, however, the Secretary of State for Justice had started discussing the idea of earned release, whereby people in prison could secure earlier release

by participating in education, training or other positive activity. This idea quickly became arguably the most prominent element of the government’s plans for prison reform and central to the ISR.

This article will track the evolution of this policy idea, show how the current plans to implement it constitute a missed opportunity, and look at what would be needed to implement a proper policy of earned release based on participation in education and training.

By Everytown for Gun Safety, Everytown Research and Policy

  The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson using a homemade firearm with a 3D-printed frame and silencer marked the first time many in the general public heard about 3D-printed guns. But this was not the first instance of criminal violence with this type of firearm, and as 3D-printing technology becomes more aordable, accessible, and advanced, it will not be the last. The proliferation of 3D-printed firearms (3DPFs) has emerged as a serious and accelerating public safety challenge. The current state of 3D-printing technology allows an individual to print all or key parts of a firearm at home. Like other kinds of ghost guns, 3DPFs lack serial numbers, so law enforcement is unable to trace them back to their owner when they are recovered in a crime. Because 3DPFs are untraceable and require no background check, they are particularly attractive to gun trackers who can print dozens of firearms and avoid raising alarms. 3DPFs have been linked to violent crimes, including everything from extremist plots to shootings involving teens. And the online community that produces and beta tests these designs includes alarming extremist elements, with many designers viewing 3D printing as a means to bypass or dismantle gun laws altogether. In the United States, as regulatory pressure in recent years has significantly reduced the availability of ghost gun “kits”—a way that online retailers routinely sold easily modified building blocks of firearms—the 3D printing of frames and accessories has accelerated among those looking to manufacture their own guns. Meanwhile, in Europe, new 3DPF designs allowing people to print functioning firearms threaten to undermine the gun safety laws that have long protected the continent from the degree of gun violence in the US. Policymakers, technology firms, and civil society must act urgently to address the dangers of 3DPFs. A multipronged strategy is essential. This includes 3D-printer manufacturers and software companies developing and implementing algorithms that detect and block the printing of firearms and accessories. In concert with the 3D-printing industry, lawmakers should take steps to regulate 3D-printing technology in a manner that makes it impossible to use a 3D printer to print a gun. Public institutions like schools, libraries, and community tech labs should implement clear policies and software restrictions to block the printing of firearm components on 3D printers. Further, social media and other online platforms should significantly improve their moderation of content that promotes or distributes 3Dprinted gun blueprints or features instructions and advice for building 3DPFs.

By Everytown for Gun Safety, Everytown Research & Policy

For centuries, self-defense laws have given people the right to protect themselves. Shoot First laws, also known as Stand Your Ground laws, go beyond these long-standing principles, aggressively altering criminal law to shield a person who claims self-defense from being arrested, prosecuted, or convicted for using deadly force. In 2005, Florida enacted the first modern Shoot First law, an effort backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), during a time when they were making concerted efforts to reverse declining gun sales.2 Working with the gun lobby, the American Legislative Exchange Council pushed to turn Florida’s law into a template for a national campaign.3 Now in 29 states,4 these laws change the nature of self-defense, turning everyday disputes into deadly confrontations. Far from empowering victims, Shoot First laws lower the threshold for justifiable homicide, encouraging the escalation of petty arguments and armed vigilantism. 

Although the gun lobby created these laws under the pretense of empowering and protecting victims of crime, the data overwhelmingly shows that the statutes have failed at this. Research on Shoot First laws indicates that they increase gun deaths, leading to hundreds of deaths every year that would not have occurred otherwise. These laws also consistently fail to protect vulnerable communities; in addition to increased risk of victimization in Shoot First states, convictions are unfairly skewed against people of color and women. 

In the decades since the first Shoot First law was enacted, no research shows that these laws lead to better outcomes for anyone. Shoot First was created to solve a problem that does not exist—and Americans are paying the price. 

By Greg Oxley and William Downs

The UK has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. People who want to own guns for legitimate reasons (for sport or as part of the rural economy) must get a licence from the police. The use of firearms in crime is taken very seriously and firearms offences carry heavy penalties.The law on firearmsThe law governing firearms regulation in the UK is very complex. It includes several pieces of primary and secondary legislation. The legislative framework has been criticised for being incoherent and difficult to find.The Law Commission (the independent body responsible for reviewing the law) published a review of firearms law in 2015 and recommended it be codified so that the legislation is clear, consistent and can be understood by ordinary people. It also recommended several key terms be defined by new legislation. Part 6 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 went some way to implementing the Law Commission’s recommendations to define key terms but stopped short of codifying the law.The Home Office maintains a collection of resources relating to firearms licensing, including the Statutory guidance for police on firearms licensing which helps police chiefs carry out checks when assessing someone’s suitability to own firearms or become a registered firearms dealer and the Home Office guide to firearms licensing law which is designed to educate the police, gun owners and the public about firearms law.

By The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and Europol

Illicit drugs are big business. They are one of the main profit-generating activities of organised crime and are estimated to represent around one-fifth of global crime proceeds. 'EU Drug Markets: In-depth analysis' is the fourth comprehensive overview of illicit drug markets in the EU by the EMCDDA and Europol and takes a broad view of these markets from production and trafficking, to distribution and use. Designed as a series of modules, each focuses on the market for a particular drug.

This resource offers a strategic and top-level summary for policymakers and decision-makers, to support the development and implementation of policies and actions in Europe, based on a robust understanding of the current drug landscape and emerging threats. It also serves practitioners working in the field and is intended to raise awareness among the general public about these issues.

By Enrico Nichelatti and Adnan Abdulaziz Shahir

Trade mis-invoicing represents a significant economic challenge in Ghana, with losses estimated at 3.03 per cent of gross domestic product in 2018. We examine the potential of a universal child benefit in Ghana through a counterfactual taxation of illicit financial flows. Using microsimulation, we model two budget-neutral designs: a flat per-child transfer and a quasi-universal schedule with higher amounts for larger households. Both options lower poverty and inequality, with stronger effects in rural areas and among larger households. The universal design yields slightly greater overall poverty reduction: the quasi-universal variant better protects large families. Although such revenues cover only a limited share of the poverty gap, redirecting them can expand social protection without raising distortionary taxes. The study links tax justice to social policy expansion and questions claims that universal benefits are unaffordable in low- and lower-middle-income countries. The study assesses only first-round effects and does not address political feasibility.

By Monica C. Bell In police reform circles, many scholars and policymakers diagnose the frayed relationship between police forces and the communities they serve as a problem of illegitimacy, or the idea that people lack confidence in the police and thus are unlikely to comply or cooperate with them. The core proposal emanating from this illegitimacy diagnosis is procedural justice, a concept that emphasizes police officers’ obligation to treat people with dignity and respect, behave in a neutral, nonbiased way, exhibit an intention to help, and give them voice to express themselves and their needs, largely in the context of police stops. This Essay argues that legitimacy theory offers an incomplete diagnosis of the policing crisis, and thus de-emphasizes deeper structural, group-centered approaches to the problem of policing. The existing police regulatory regime encourages large swaths of American society to see themselves as existing within the law’s aegis but outside its protection. This Essay critiques the reliance of police decision makers on a simplified version of legitimacy and procedural justice theory. It aims to expand the predominant understanding of police mistrust among African Americans and the poor, proposing that legal estrangement offers a better lens through which scholars and policymakers can understand and respond to the current problems of policing. Legal estrangement is a theory of detachment and eventual alienation from the law’s enforcers, and it reflects the intuition among many people in poor communities of color that the law operates to exclude them from society. Building on the concepts of legal cynicism and anomie in sociology, the concept of legal estrangement provides a way of understanding the deep concerns that motivate today’s police reform movement and points toward structural approaches to reforming policing.

By Daniel C. Chow

An immense supply chain pipeline constantly funnels millions of counterfeit goods from Alibaba’s e-commerce sites in China to third party sellers who sell these goods on Amazon to U.S. consumers. Amazon has acknowledged that it has a problem with counterfeits on its e-commerce sites, but its current responses to counterfeiting are primarily performative and intended to pacify disgruntled brand owners and frustrated consumers. Amazon’s responses will likely have little or no effect on counterfeits on its websites. This Article sets forth a direct and straightforward method for shutting down or seriously disrupting this pipeline based on using China’s existing laws. This method involves using verification methods required by China’s laws to ensure that only lawful and legitimate businesses, not counterfeiters, can open online accounts on Alibaba and other Chinese e-commerce platforms. Unless these steps are taken, counterfeits sold on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms will likely continue to plague brand owners, consumers, and the general public in the United States for the foreseeable future.

By Nicolas Florquin with Victor de Oliveira

SITUATION UPDATE: LATIN AMERICA

Based on UN Comtrade data, reported global small arms and light weapons (hereafter ‘small arms’) exports rose sharply from USD 5 billion in 2019 to USD 9.2 billion in 2024. Consistent with previous trade updates, ammunition remains the most traded weapon category, accounting for 35% of the value of reported global imports for the period 2019–24, followed by sporting and hunting shotguns and rifles (21%), and pistols and revolvers (18%).

The Authorized Trade in Small Arms: Latin America from a Global Perspective—a Situation Update from the Mapping the Transnational Circulation and Control of Small Arms in Latin America project—examines the global authorized trade in small arms between 2019 and 2024, with a particular focus on trends in Latin America. It finds the region to be a comparatively small player in the global authorized small arms trade, accounting for 2.8% of global small arms imports and 6.3% of exports. Yet military firearms represented about 10% of all Latin American small arms imports during this period—almost double the global average of 5.6%.

The Situation Update also identifies a significant increase in European—and in particular Eastern European—imports during this period, which seem to have fuelled the growing trade. Indeed, European imports accounted for 40% of all reported global imports in 2024, while the value of Eastern European imports multiplied by more than ten between 2019 and 2024.

Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2025. 16p.

By Alina D. Machande 

The burgeoning field of cyberdeviance lacks a unified conceptual framework, hindering classification and understanding of its subtypes and underlying psychological mechanisms. To address this gap, we conducted two studies. In Study 1 (N = 20), employing the repertory grid technique, we identified five key dimensions of cyberdeviance. In Study 2 (N = 268), participants rated 16 cyberdeviant behaviors on these dimensions, revealing three subtypes: data-oriented, interpersonal, and non-prototypical cyberdeviance. Our findings suggest a shift from singular cyberdeviance investigation toward recognition of its diverse subtypes, each necessitating tailored interventions. By adopting a dimensional approach, we transcend categorical and technocentric perspectives, enabling examination of behavior clusters across cultural and temporal contexts. Our work underscores the importance of integrating foundational deviance theories and expanding conceptual frameworks to comprehensively grasp cyberdeviance phenomena.

The Information Society, 1–19. 2025.

By Camello, M. L., Houston-Kolnik, J. D., & Planty, M

This technology brief explores the use of chatbots within the criminal justice system. The goal of this brief is to orient the reader to chatbots, present foundational insights from real-world examples of chatbot use, highlight considerations for implementation, and discuss the future of chatbots in the criminal justice system  

  Key Takeaways ¡ There are numerous benefits to implementing chatbots, including: Ÿ improved efficiency for users accessing information, Ÿ enhanced community engagement by creating a 24/7 communications channel, Ÿ expanded access to justice through multilingual chatbot capabilities, Ÿ reduced costs by automating FAQ support traditionally done through live chat, and Ÿ reduced staff workloads. ¡ Chatbots carry inherent risks that decision-makers need to consider before implementation, including: Ÿ misinterpretation of user input leading to incorrect responses, Ÿ biased training data, and Ÿ vulnerability to hacking. ¡ Advancements in AI have enhanced and will continue to enhance chatbot capabilities and applications; however, despite these advancements, deploying AI-driven chatbots is not a “plug-and-play” opportunity for criminal justice applications

Research Triangle Park, NC:RTI International, 2021. 15p.  

By Redden, J., Aagaard,B., Taniguchi, T  

 This technology brief is the second in a four-part series that examines artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the criminal justice system. This brief highlights AI applications currently in use by law enforcement agencies, introduces frameworks for evaluating AI applications, and summarizes critical risks to consider when deploying AI systems. Additional briefs provide a high-level overview of AI within the criminal justice system and AI topics related to the criminal courts system and corrections.   

  Key Takeaways ¡ AI and advanced robotics in policing are not yet widespread; however, many law enforcement agencies are experimenting with these technologies. Opportunities to utilize AI applications in law enforcement will continue to increase as technologies evolve, including AI, 5G, and autonomous vehicles. ¡ This brief provides use cases, products, and vendor technologies to illustrate how some agencies have incorporated AI; the hope is for this information to inspire an ongoing dialogue between law enforcement leaders about how to improve policing. ¡ AI solutions hold promise to increase efficiency, promote data-driven practices, and expand capabilities for law enforcement agencies. The challenge will be for law enforcement agencies to identify use cases in which data quality and availability, technology maturity, and ethical constraints match their needs and their communities’ needs. ¡ Law enforcement agencies, communities, and the legal system need to have ongoing conversations about the tradeoffs between personal privacy and public safety/ security as AI enables more sophisticated surveillance and investigation

Criminal Justice Testing (and Evaluation Consortium, 2020. 10p.

By Colleen Daniels, Naomi Burke‑Shyne. Catherine Cook and Anoushka Beattie

Neo‑colonialism and financing for the war on drugs: a review of current policy and recommendations for countries in the global north Colleen Daniels1*, Naomi Burke‑Shyne1^, Catherine Cook1 and Anoushka Beattie2 Abstract Globally, punitive drug control upholds racist and colonial structures. Marginalised and racialised communities, including Indigenous peoples, are disproportionately targeted and affected by punitive drug policy in law enforcement, judicial and carceral systems, and policy implementation. Power imbalances also exist at the international level, with high income countries exerting influence over drug policy in low- and middle-income countries. This paper examines that influence through financial and material aid, technical assistance, capacity building, educa‑ tion and awareness campaigns and the interaction between the vested interests of the private sector and the State, specifically via the Prison Industrial Complex and land and resource grabbing in conflict and post-conflict contexts. The global war on drugs entrenches power imbalances and reproduces mechanisms of racial control and subordina‑ tion. To begin to decolonise drug policy, the financial and material basis of these mechanisms must be illuminated and dismantled and this paper offers recommendations on how to move forward (Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, 1923; Carrier et al., 2020).