Pre-Law Institute—presented in conjunction with Duke University School of Law
Program Details
- Open to students currently enrolled in Grades 9-12
- June 14-28, 2008
- $3,300 (Airfare and books not included)
- Airport: Raleigh-Durham International (RDU)
The Site
Duke University's beautiful campus is the venue where intellectually spirited students will gain a meaningful introduction to the workings of the U.S. criminal justice system. Located in the heart of the celebrated Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, home of the Research Triangle Park (RTP), and many centers of higher learning, Duke University is at the heart of an academically and intellectually charged environment. Students in the Pre-Law Institute will live on the main quad of Duke University’s East Campus and will travel by shuttle each day to Duke's West Campus to attend class at the Duke University School of Law. Interactive online Duke campus maps can be found here. »
The Course
Throughout the two weeks at the Duke University School of Law, approximately twenty-five students will gain a meaningful introduction to the workings of the U.S. criminal justice system, viewed through the lens of wrongful convictions. Through classroom activities, speaker presentations, group discussions, and course readings, students will examine, from an inter-disciplinary perspective, the principal problems that lead to the conviction of the innocent and the leading proposals for reform. Topics covered will include mistaken eyewitness identification; false confessions; junk forensic science; post-conviction remedies for innocence claims; the use of "jailhouse snitches" and cooperating witnesses; insufficient defense counsel; police and prosecutorial misconduct; and the legal, practical, and ethical issues that arise in investigating claims of wrongful conviction. Students will have the opportunity to work on an actual investigation of a claim of innocence, and the final project will be the creation of an investigative notebook.