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.
Take a stand for a fair, rational, and humane criminal legal system
Contact members of congress, sign petitions, and more
Help us continue our fight by donating to NFCJ
Help shape the future of the association
Join the dedicated and passionate team at NACDL
Increase brand exposure while building trust and credibility
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.
Showing 1 - 15 of 23 results
Brief of the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant-Respondent
Collateral Consequences: Practice presented by Amanda David, Assistant Federal Defender, Federal Public Defender of Eastern District New York
Race Matters I: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice September 14-15, 2017 | Detroit, MI
The NACDL Task Force on Risk Assessment Tools commissioned Dr. Melissa Hamilton to produce a comprehensive analysis of how risk assessment tools are developed and applied. This report is a significant contribution to the body of scholarship and resources concerning risk assessment tools. It is an in-depth and accessible resource for practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and indeed all system actors in the nation’s criminal legal apparatus. It is designed to provide the information and guidance necessary to properly assess various risk assessment tools. [Released November 2020]
We tell ourselves that we are protected from government abuse by a system of jury trials in which jurors decide guilt or innocence and judges determine sentences. What is the reality? We have abandoned the system of public jury trials established in the Constitution and Bill of Rights in favor of a shadow system of guilty pleas driven by the logic of prosecutorial power.
Comments with FAMM to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco regarding U.S. Attorney offices requiring waiver of the right to seek compassionate release during plea negotiations.
Thanks to the trial penalty, criminal trials no longer offer sufficient opportunities for the community to evaluate the conduct of the police during citizen-officer encounters. Police and prosecutors can effectively coerce guilty pleas thereby obscuring, even deliberately shielding, unlawful police conduct from public exposure and review by the courts.
Written Testimony of Lucian E. Dervan Assistant Professor of Law Southern Illinois University School of Law Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force, United States House of Representatives “Regulatory Crime: Solutions”
Written Statement of Bryan A. Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director Equal Justice Initiative and Professor of Clinical Law New York University School of Law Before the House Committee on the Judiciary Over-Criminalization Task Force Re: “Penalties”
This month the Honorable John L. Kane reviews Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System by Jed S. Rakoff.
Brief of Amicus Curiae National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Petitioner.
Brief of Amicus Curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Appellee.
To what extent, if any, does Brady apply in the plea bargaining process?
Letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding penalties and prosecutorial requirements for revenge porn cases, as proposed in the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2896).
Trials are diminishing at all levels. Guilty pleas are the foundation of the criminal justice system. Exhaustion and helplessness work to wear down criminal defendants throughout the pretrial process. Seeing packed courtrooms and hearing that the prosecutor “lost the file” – which requires the case to be adjourned until a later date – have a nontrivial effect on a defendant’s decision-making. Also, pleas are frequently sold to defendants as the best alternative to an intractable situation. What are the solutions?
"Plea Bargained vs. Open Pleas: What the Data Reveal," Westlaw Journal White Collar Crime, March 2017.
