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 justice system.
NACDL envisions a society where all individuals receive fair, rational, and humane treatment within the criminal justice system.
NACDL’s mission is to serve as a leader, alongside diverse coalitions, in identifying and reforming flaws and inequities in the criminal justice 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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Native American Justice Committee chair Tova Indritz's letter to members of the Senate regarding Tribal Law and Order Act of 2008, S. 3320.
The right to counsel, guaranteed by the 6th Amendment, promises every person, regardless of their charges or resources, has a skilled, zealous advocate by their side when they stand accused of a crime. As Gideon and other cases recognized, defendants' procedural and substantive rights cannot be protected unless every person has an attorney with the resources, skills, and independence to advocate for them. NACDL works to help reform inadequate public defense systems through training and technical assistance, public education, advocacy, and litigation.
The guarantees of the 6th Amendment are not met by simply providing the defendant a warm body with a bar card. An accused is in need of and entitled to a zealous, capable advocate who can provide effective assistance consistent with prevailing professional norms. When public defense attorneys are burdened with excessive caseloads they are unable to fulfill their ethical and constitutional responsibilities to their clients and the community.
Public defense issues and developments in South Carolina
Letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies regarding the DOJ proposal to close the Office for Access to Justice (February 2018).
Letter to Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
2016 letter from numerous organizations, includng NACDL, supporting legislation to provide additional funding for New York's public defense system.
NACDL's 2018 Memo to Indiana Public Defense Task Force
In 2018 NACDL filed a public comment in support of a Petition before the Wisconsin Supreme Court to raise the rate of compensation for court appointed counsel, and declaring its current $40 per hour rate as unreasonable. The Court refused to hold the state's rate unreasonable, but did elect to raise its own court assigned case rate from $70/hour to $100/hr.
Joint Comment from TACDL and NACDL
A report by the Sixth Amendment Center, commissioned by NACDL and supported by the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice and Koch Industries. [Released October 2016]
The Sixth Amendment's promise that every person accused of a crime is entitled to counsel is a hollow one when the attorney appointed lacks the time and resources to provide meaningful representation. In order to determine whether defenders in Rhode Island are facing a caseload crisis, NACDL, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (ABA SCLAID), and the accounting firm of BlumShapiro undertook an assessment of the Rhode Island Public Defender system ("RIPD"). [Released November 2017]
The Fourth Amendment has entered the digital age. New surveillance technologies and programs — from GPS tracking devices to automated license plate readers to bulk data collection — have upended traditional law enforcement practices and created new challenges for defense lawyers. This report offers an overview of this symposium and the substantive areas of concern related to new technological and legal changes that impact Fourth Amendment protections in criminal cases. [Released June 2016]
When a person is accused of a crime, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that person the right to a lawyer even if they cannot afford one. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this basic principle more than a half century ago in Gideon v. Wainwright, and in subsequent cases that expanded the right to misdemeanor prosecutions. Yet this right is violated every day in South Carolina’s magistrate and municipal courts – collectively referred to as summary courts – where scores of people are convicted, sentenced, and sometimes incarcerated, without having been represented by counsel. [Released April 2016]
The crisis in public defense in Louisiana has been well-documented by the news media over the past several years. Stories of overloaded public defenders, unrepresented individuals languishing in jail, and mass pleas have shocked the nation’s conscience, but the system’s shortcomings have long evaded reform. However, much coverage of the public defense crisis in Louisiana, the state with the highest incarceration rate in the nation, has focused its attention on the consequences of the crisis rather than its causes. [Released March 2017]
Public defense issues and developments in South Carolina