Recording of Systemic Juror Exclusion: How States Continue to Disenfranchise Prospective Jurors Through Improper Policy Implementation, a webinar hosted by NACDL for Second Chance Month 2023.

Presented by Eric Davis, Chief of the Felony Trial Division, Harris County Public Defender (Houston, TX)

Race Matters II: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
January 10-11, 2019 | Los Angeles, CA

NACDL created The Commission to Reform the Federal Grand Jury, drawing on the expertise of a variety of professionals throughout the criminal justice system. Commissioners spent two years examining the need for changes in the grand jury process and produced a Federal Grand Jury Bill of Rights based on their findings. The ten reforms set forth in this Bill of Rights, largely echoing those proposed by the American Bar Association (ABA) more than 20 years ago, would restore balance to the grand jury process and better protect against unwarranted prosecutions. [Released May 2000]

NACDL issued a groundbreaking new report on restoring and reforming the grand jury system. This research reflects an in-depth study of grand jury reform in two states – New York and Colorado – and produces with four reform recommendations. [Released November 2011]

Defense attorney Harold Gurewitz discusses Michigan’s use of a so-called one-man grand jury.

but Was It a Constitutional Violation?

Jurors conducted an experiment using extrinsic evidence. No harm, no foul?

Jury verdicts represent statements of the community. Respect for a jury’s verdict should not be something about which we need to remind Americans.

Rather than a bulwark against "hasty, malicious and oppressive prosecution," today's federal grand jury is too often a rubber stamp, leading many to agree that "a good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich." 

NACDL calls upon Congress to halt the dangerous erosion and abuse of the federal grand jury and enact the modest proposals outlined in our Federal Grand Jury Reform Report & "Bill of Rights."

Jury Instruction Corner Thomas Lundy

Comments to the Judicial Conference of the United States Practice & Procedure Committee regarding a proposed amendment to define how federal courts should navigate an emergency suspension of rules (new Criminal Rule 62), such as those posed by COVID-19 and directed by the CARES Act (H.R. 748, 2020).

Coalition letters to the Maryland State Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and House of Delegates Judiciary Committee regarding proposed legislation (SB 921, HB 1213) to eliminate restrictions on jury eligibility for those with criminal convictions.

Behind Closed Doors Thomas K. Maher, Christopher Fialko August/September 2000 53 The Fifth Amendment Is Alive and Well In United States v. Dickerson, 166 F.3d 667 (4th Cir. 1999), a divided panel of the Fourth Circuit held that 18 U.S.C. § 3501 effectively overruled the Supreme Court's decision i

The role of the grand jury in capital prosecutions Thomas K. Maher, Christopher Fialko

This Time, With Feeling: The 'In the Moment' Approach to Selecting a Jury

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure applicable to criminal forfeiture.