Brandon Garrett - Defending Due Process

Public Lecture: 16:00 - 16:50 Haworth Building, Room 101, University of Birmingham

Reception: 17:00 - 18:00 at the Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham

About the event

In this Public Lecture, Professor Brandon Garrett will present his latest book "Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World" (Polity Press). The US Constitution commands, twice, that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Yet in today's polarised environment, this fundamental principle is increasingly under pressure across various contexts – from courtrooms and colleges to police stations, gaols, and online spaces.

Professor Garrett explores why we are sometimes tempted to prioritise desired outcomes over fair process, and examines how government institutions can fail to provide meaningful due process protections. His talk will address how we might find common ground to mend political polarisation, address distrust in government, prevent errors, and safeguard constitutional rights.

About the speaker

Brandon L. Garrett is the inaugural L. Neil Williams, Jr. Professor of Law and Director of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law, an initiative that brings together faculty and students to improve criminal justice outcomes. Garrett's current research and teaching interests focus on evidence, forensic science, constitutional rights, habeas corpus, corporate crime, and criminal law.

He is the author of six books: Autopsy of a Crime Lab: Exposing the Flaws in Forensics (University of California Press, 2021); The Death Penalty: Concepts and Insights (West Academic, 2018) (with Lee Kovarsky); End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice (Harvard University Press, 2017); Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations (Harvard University Press, 2014); Federal Habeas Corpus: Executive Detention and Post-Conviction Litigation (Foundation Press, 2013) (with Lee Kovarsky); and Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong (Harvard University Press, 2011). These books have been translated for editions in China, Spain, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

His groundbreaking work on the psychology of eyewitness testimony and wrongful convictions has transformed our understanding of criminal justice reliability. Garrett's work has been widely cited by courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, lower federal courts, state supreme courts, and courts in other countries. He maintains several online data sets relating to his research, including the Convicting the Innocent: DNA Exonerations Database.

Garrett received his BA in 1997 from Yale University and his JD in 2001 from Columbia Law School. Before joining Duke Law in 2018, he was the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs and Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia.

Questions?

Please contact the event organisers:

• Professor Heather Flowe, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham https://www.heatherflowe.com
• Professor Aleksandra Cavoski, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/law/cavoski-aleksandra

We hope you can join us for this important discussion. Learn more: https://www.brandonlgarrett.com/