Our members tell us that conditions at NYC Department of Corrections detention facilities have deteriorated to the point of near collapse. News coverage, the NYC Board of Corrections report issued September 12, 2022, and the latest report from the Monitor appointed by SDNY Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain show a terrible toll of preventable pain, suffering, and death.

In 2018 NACDL filed a public comment in support of a Petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court to raise the rate of compensation for court appointed counsel, and declaring its current $40 per hour rate as unreasonable. The Court refused to hold the state's rate unreasonable, but did elect to raise its own court assigned case rate from $70/hour to $100/hr.

NACDL letter of opposition to Virginia Governor Terence R. McAuliffe regarding HB 815, which would make the electric chair the default method of execution if lethal injection drugs are not available in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

NACDL letters and testimony related to restoration of rights and collateral consequences.

Letter to Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

NACDL comments to the Virginia Supreme Court on proposed revisions to Virginia's discovery rules: Proposed Revisions to Rules 3A:11 and 3A:12 Received from the Virginia State Bar Criminal Discovery Reform Task Force.

NACDL is writing to offer its qualified support for the Manager’s Substitute Amendment to the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699). As amended, the Act updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the law that sets standards for government access to private internet communications, to reflect internet users’ reasonable expectations of privacy with respect to emails, texts, notes, photos, and other sensitive information stored in “the cloud.”

NACDL's 2018 Memo to Indiana Public Defense Task Force

Forfeiture reform letters of support from NACDL and its partners, and from others.

President Carmen Hernandez's letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leadership regarding A bill to amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to address the waiver of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine (S. 2450, 2007).

The "Free Flow of lnformation Act" (S. 448; H.R. 985) … was reintroduced in the 111th Congress. Soon after this legislation was introduced in the 110th Congress (S. 2035; H.R. 2102), NACDL formed its Reporters' Shield Legislation Task Force to study the proposed law and ascertain the potential implications for the integrity and fairness of our criminal justice system. I write ... to explain our specific concerns with the language of the most recent versions and to articulate our view that any legislation of this nature not be used to undermine the criminal justice process.

Effective cybersecurity laws are critical to maintaining both the national security and economic advancement of the U.S. But this security should not come at the expense of civil liberties and innovation. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does just that—it unnecessarily sacrifices civil liberties and innovation in the name of cybersecurity. … The upcoming hearing of Ms. Loretta Lynch, on her nomination for Attorney General, will provide a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on this ongoing tension between attempts to expand the CFAA’s provisions and the need for meaningful reform.

President John Wesley Hall and Military Law Committee co-chair Donald Rehkopf's letter to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leadership regarding Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2009 (H.R. 569/S. 357).

NACDL letter to Senator Michael Miller in support of legislation to repeal the death penalty in Maryland.

NACDL letter to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley in support of legislation to repeal the death penalty.