Renewed War on Drugs, harsher charging policies, stepped-up criminalization of immigrants — in the current climate, joining the NACDL is more important than ever. Members of NACDL help to support the only national organization working at all levels of government to ensure that the voice of the defense bar is heard.
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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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NACDL joins bar associations, legal services providers, policymakers, and judges in calling for an immediate and complete halt to the implementation of Directive Number 11072.1.
Second Circuit Decision to Vacate and Remand Based on Sentence Higher than Guidelines for Illegal Reentry into the United States.
President Barbara Bergman's letter to House members regarding the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437).
Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Federal Defenders, the Immigrant Defense Project, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild in support of Petitioner.
Argument: The perfunctory processing of low-level (misdemeanor) drug charges is rooted in the understanding that ordinarily defendants face less serious direct and collateral consequences. Essentially duped into believing that these charges were resolved with a quick plea, many non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, subsequently find themselves subject to deportation, despite the fact that they were charged with the most minor drug possession offenses that exist within state penal codes. The issue before the Court is whether a person convicted under state law for simple drug possession (a federal misdemeanor) has been “convicted” of a deportable “aggravated felony” where there was no charge or finding of a prior conviction in his prosecution for possession.
