Opening & Welcome 

• Tamara V. Lewis, J.D., NACDL Director of State Advocacy 
• Missy Owen, NACDL President 
• Video Remarks from Barry Scheck, Innocence Project and NACDL Past President

Extreme Sentences: Rethinking Justice for Juveniles and Adults

Extreme sentencing — including life without parole and other lengthy terms — raises critical questions of proportionality, rehabilitation, and accountability for both juveniles and adults, with particular attention to the distinct considerations that arise when individuals are sentenced as youth. This session will explore how age, maturity, offense circumstances, and evidence of rehabilitation shape sentencing outcomes and opportunities for review. It will also examine evolving approaches to sentencing reform, resentencing, and second chances across both populations. 

Moderator: Keith Wallington, Senior Campaign Strategist, The Sentencing Project 

Panelists:

• Olida Moyd, Esq., Law Clinic Professor and Decarceration Attorney, criminal defense attorney and scholar-advocate on parole, resentencing, and re-entry issues 

• Robyn Hasan-Simpson, Director & CEO of Women on the Rise, Georgia, justice-impacted organizer and advocate for policy change, alternatives to diversion, and transformative change within the criminal legal system 

• Warren Allen, Campaign Associate, The Sentencing Project

The Trial Penalty in California 

This panel will discuss takeaways and learnings from NACDL’s largest and most recent trial penalty report, as well as reflections on the trial penalty in state cases more broadly.

Moderator: Nate Psyno, Director of Procedural Justice & Senior Counsel, NACDL

Panelists:

• Jaqueline Goodman, Chair of the California Trial Penalty Report Task Force and former CACJ President

Opening Remarks & Announcement of the 2026 Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award

• Lisa Wayne, Esq., NACDL Executive Director 
• Announcement of the Recipient of the 2026 Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award

The Unchartered Path to Creating Prosecutorial Accountability – Patterns, Persistency, & Case Study of Colorado Efforts to Reform Absolute Immunity 

Prosecutorial misconduct appears in over a third of documented U.S. exonerations, yet prosecutors are rarely held accountable due to absolute immunity, a 50-year-old doctrine shielding them from civil liability even for intentional constitutional violations. This session will present national and Colorado-specific data on this accountability gap, including a January 2026 poll showing 83% of Coloradans support eliminating prosecutorial absolute immunity. The panel will then use Colorado's 2025 reform negotiations and the 2026 "No Kings Act"—defeated after a misinformation campaign by the Colorado District Attorneys' Council—as a case study in the political resistance faced when challenging immunity and the prosecutor lobby. 

Moderator: Cat Ordonez, Policy Director, Protect Ethical Prosecutors 

Panelists:

• Iris Eytan, Founder, Protect Ethical Prosecutors  

• Emma Hudson, Lobbyist and Founder, Carrick Strategies 

• Senator Mike Weissman, Colorado State Senator, attorney, and co-prime sponsor of the No Kings Act

Who Gets Tested? Who Gets Reported? Race, Drug Testing, and Criminalization of Substance Use During Pregnancy 

Toxicology tests ordered during pregnancy or during the birth hospitalization can have consequences that extend far beyond medical care. Research shows significant racial disparities in perinatal and newborn drug testing, with Black mothers and newborns more likely to be tested and reported to child welfare authorities, even as questions remain about the clinical utility and reliability of such tests. This session will examine how decisions made in hospitals can trigger child welfare reporting (mandatory or otherwise), ongoing child welfare system involvement, family surveillance, and even referral to law enforcement. It will explore the intersection of medical practice, systemic racism, federal law (CAPTA/CARA), state law (mandatory reporting and child abuse definitions), and pregnancy criminalization, and consider how evidence-based screening and testing practices can reduce unnecessary and inequitable child welfare system involvement, improving outcomes for children and their families.

Moderator: Monica Milton, Counsel for Public Defense and Special Projects, NACDL

Panelists:

• Jill Castellano, Data Journalist, The Marshall Project
• Sharon Ostfeld-Johns, MD, IBCLC, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Hospital Medicine), Yale School of Medicine 

Opening Remarks 

• Tamara V. Lewis, J.D., NACDL Director of State Advocacy 
• Video Remarks from DeAnna Hoskins, JustLeadership USA CEO

Challenging Algorithmic Adolescence

This panel will discuss the increased use of AI and other technology to surveil and criminalize youth, how it impacts their rights in the criminal legal system, and what defenders and advocates can do to interrupt it.

Moderator: Shreya Tewari, Resource Counsel, NACDL Fourth Amendment Center

Panelists:

• Tara Khani, Chief of Children’s Defense Division & Senior Supervising Attorney Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office 

• Marika Pfefferkorn, Co-Founder Twin Cities Innovation Alliance & Executive Director, Midwest Center for School Transformation, Co-Founder of the No Tech Criminalization in Education Coalition 

• Jessica Alcantara – Senior Staff Attorney, Advancement Project

Competency to Stand Trial: Systems Under Pressure, Paths Forward

Competency to stand trial sits at the intersection of due process and severely under-resourced systems. This panel will break down the core legal standard, examine how states are reforming competency evaluation and restoration through legislation and under pressure of litigation, and highlight promising innovations that are improving outcomes for defendants and the criminal system.

Moderator: Bonnie Hoffman, Director of Public Defense, NACDL

Panelists:

• Richard Schwermer, Court Consultant, National Center for State Courts 

• Susan McMahon, Professor of Lawyering Skills, UC Irvine School of Law