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
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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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Prison Reform: Learning from AMEND’s Research and Reform Approaches. Presented by David Cloud, AMEND at UCSF, San Francisco, CA and Jerry Buting, moderator, Buting, Williams & Stilling, S.C., Brookfield, WI
22nd Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference August 16-17, 2023 | Held Virtually
The United States constitutes less than 5 percent of the world’s population yet is prisons house 25 percent of the worldwide prison population. This phenomenon is due large to the War on Drugs.
Powerpoint slides by Emma Roth. Presented at the NACDL Post-Dobbs Defender Skills Summit in July 2023
We urge you to vote “no” on S. 1080, the Cooper Davis Act. The bill purports to address the sale of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and “counterfeit substances” by coopting online services to report the alleged or suspected creation, manufacture, or distribution of these substances … Rather than meaningfully addressing the public health crisis caused by such substances, this bill would … undermin[e] the Fourth Amendment and the Stored Communications Act, likely with disproportionate effects on people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized communities.
Juan Carlos Barragan had served 16 years of his sentence when a federal judge reduced his sentence to “time served.” His release is one of the success stories of NACDL’s Return to Freedom Project, which files compassionate release motions and clemency petitions on behalf of federal prisoners convicted of marijuana crimes.
The undersigned national, state, and local public health and criminal justice reform organizations write today to urge you to reject and vote NO on the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl (HALT) Act (H.R. 467). This bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances (FRS) on schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) based on a 2 flawed class definition, imposes mandatory minimums, and fails to provide an offramp for removing inert or harmless substances from the drug schedule.
COVID-19 Data in State & Federal Prisons [Engage & Exchange Discussion Series]
Iris Eytan, Dru Nielsen, and special guest moderator Martin Sabelli join the Engage & Exchange Discussion for COVID-19 & Courts Reopening - Lessons Learned in Litigation.
NACDL: Jury Trials Not Safe Until COVID-19 Pandemic Under Control [Released June 2020]
This month John L. Kane reviews American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19 by John Fabian Witt.
NACDL, et al. filed a class action lawsuit seeking release of medically vulnerable individuals from Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, Calif. The lawsuit seeks to compel Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern to release all medically vulnerable people in custody at Santa Rita or in rare circumstances transfer them to home confinement.
NACDL, et al., filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate Seeking the Immediate and Significant Reduction of County Jail and Juvenile Facility Populations Across the State of California. As explained in the petition, the conditions in these facilities constitute violations of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment as well as violations of individuals’ Due Process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, in addition to violations of the California Constitution and other state and federal laws.
NACDL opposed an executive order in Texas to restrict mechanisms of release and suspend speedy trial protections.
NACDL seeks volunteers in historic pro bono effort to secure compassionate release for the most vulnerable federal prisoners.
NACDL to Focus on Service and Support for Members, Clients, and Community Throughout Virus Emergency
