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NACDL is committed to enhancing the capacity of the criminal defense bar to safeguard fundamental constitutional rights.
NACDL harnesses the unique perspectives of NACDL members to advocate for policy and practice improvements in the criminal legal system.
NACDL envisions a society where all individuals receive fair, rational, and humane treatment within the criminal legal system.
NACDL’s mission is to serve as a leader, alongside diverse coalitions, in identifying and reforming flaws and inequities in the criminal legal system, and redressing systemic racism, and ensuring that its members and others in the criminal defense bar are fully equipped to serve all accused persons at the highest level.
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This training program will aid those working to defend persons accused of homicide in drug-related overdose deaths. Each section of the program focuses on a different aspect of these cases. CLE is not available for this program.
A cell phone’s location can be detected through cell site location information (CSLI) or global positioning system (GPS) data. CSLI refers to the information collected as a cell phone identifies its location to nearby cell towers.
The judicial shift away from strict protection of Fourth Amendment rights has not been subtle, and the price for this diminution of rights has been severe.
The below primer is a fact sheet on Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs). This software can run on a wide variety of video streams and captures information about vehicles as they pass including the license plate number, make and model of the car, the time and location, and sometimes the occupants. The primer explains how law enforcement use this information and walks through some potential arguments for defense lawyers challenging this evidence in their cases.
With an increasing number of police departments across the country turning to unregulated, untested, and flawed facial recognition technology to identify suspects, it is vital defenders understand the technology, its limitations, and how to challenge its use in their cases.
Attached is the testimony of Clare Garvie, Fourth Amendment Center Training and Resource Counsel, for the U.S. Commission on Human Rights' hearing on Civil Rights Implications of the Federal Use of Facial Recognition Technology. Her testimony highlights how the use of facial recognition technology in the criminal legal system intersects with the Commission’s mandate to inform civil rights policy, enhance enforcement of federal civil rights laws, and investigate discrimination in the administration of justice.
Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant’s Petition for Review
Predictive policing encompasses the surveillance technologies, tools, and methods employed to visualize crime, target “at-risk” individuals and groups, map physical locations, track digital communications, and collect data on individuals and communities.
NACDL's Fourth Amendment Center offers direct assistance to defense lawyers handling cases involving new surveillance tools, technologies and tactics that infringe on the constitutional rights of people in America. The Center is available to help members of the defense bar in bringing new Fourth Amendment challenges, providing a range of support: from training and resources to expert consultation and direct litigation, all free of charge.
With protections in place, body cameras have the potential to better document encounters between police officers and citizens while mitigating competing concerns about their potential for misuse or abuse.
Nearly every case involves a cell phone or an online account. Laws on device and account searches are continuing to evolve, as courts reconsider old doctrines that do not fit with the realities of the digital age. Below, find sample motions on suppressing emails, passcodes, and other electronically stored information.
Below are NACDL's comments on Executive Order 14074 on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety. The policing technologies at issue in the Executive Order create serious harms for individual criminal defendants, their lawyers, and the criminal legal system more broadly. In this comment, NACDL aims to highlight the serious dangers that these technologies pose and propose recommendations for mitigating those dangers.
Brief of Amici Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Appellant and Reversal
Amicus Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Tenth Circuit Federal Defenders for the Districts of Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Utah in Support of the Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing En Banc
Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner