Over 75% of those detained in local jails have not been convicted of a crime, and those in pretrial detention face the loss of employment and housing; suffer disruptions in education, medical treatment, and medications; and experience serious damage to their family and community relationships.

Financial bond should be used as a last resort. In most cases, pretrial supervision and less onerous conditions can serve to ensure the accused’s appearance and public’s safety without the discriminatory and disparate impact of financial bond. Learn more for your bail & bond case-related issues here.

Innocent people are convicted of crimes and spend years in prison while the real offender remains free.  Although it is exceedingly difficult to overcome a conviction, even for an innocent individual, convictions are being overturned and individuals are being exonerated with increasing frequency.  According to the Innocence Project, over 300 individuals have been exonerated based on DNA evidence, while thousands of other individuals have been exonerated without DNA evidence.   

This page contains materials and information related to Microscopic Hair Comparison Analysis and NACDL's extensive work in the area.

The Resource Center's Case-Based Tools is a curated collection of the resources to assist NACDL Members in the pursuit of justice on behalf of their clients. These materials—including motions, research, and more—were contributed by NACDL Members which they used in cases.

"It is quite true that there is enough difficulty in appealing as it is; but if there is to be no appeal at all possible the system would be intolerable." -L.J. Bowen

Appellate work is time-consuming, complex, and meaningful both for our clients and for creating precedent. Find helpful resources on appeals here.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, "My job as a prosecutor is to do justice. And justice is served when a guilty man is convicted and an innocent man is not."

Prosecutorial overreaching and misconduct strips away the rights of the accused. When prosecutors’ ethical obligations are ignored and individuals’ rights are violated in order to secure a conviction, little can be done to rectify the wrongs inflicted upon the individuals involved and on the system itself. 

This page contains case-based tools and other resources on prosecutorial misconduct.

The daily count of prisoners in the United States has surpassed 2.2 million...If there was ever a time when the public consequences of confinement did not matter, that time is long gone. 

It is important to know how to advocate for the best prison for your client, but it is equally important to understand good time calculations, early release, and the extreme need for re-entry services. Find materials and information on the prison system here.

This page contains materials and information related to policing, including interrogations, investigation tactics, procedure, and even a glossary of slang terms. 

Our report on "The Trial Penalty," released in 2018, found that over the last 50 years, defendants chose trial in less than three percent of state and federal criminal cases—compared to 30 years ago when 20 percent of those arrested chose trial. The remaining 97 percent of cases were resolved through plea deals.

There is ample evidence that federal criminal defendants are being coerced to plead guilty because the penalty for exercising their constitutional rights is simply too high to risk.

Find case-based tools and more information on pleas here.

"When a client has a mental impairment, it is critical for counsel to understand the client and how the impairment affects the client’s ability to functionally participate in the legal proceedings."

-John Matthew Fabian, "How to Deal With Difficult Clients From a Mental Health Perspective," The Champion (June 2007).

Mental health and neuroscience can also be critical when building a criminal defense or considering what your client may be entitled to (or excluded from) under law. This page contains materials and information related to mental health.

Juries are an essential component of any trial. This page contains materials and information related to juries, particularly jury instructions and voir dire.

The ABA's Model Code of Judicial Conduct states:

An independent, fair and impartial judiciary is indispensable to our system of justice. The United States legal system is based upon the principle that an independent, impartial, and competent judiciary, composed of men and women of integrity, will interpret and apply the law that governs our society. Thus, the judiciary plays a central role in preserving the principles of justice and the rule of law. 

On this page, find materials and information on judicial conduct AND misconduct.

"As the nation-state has monopolized habeas corpus … on balance we have far more people in prison, federal and state, than ever."

-Anthony Gregory

 At its heart, habeas corpus is meant to safeguard an individual's freedom. For our clients, habeas corpus is most often used as a post-conviction remedy. Find resources on habeas corpus here.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was enacted by Congress in 1978 to regulate the government’s conduct of intelligence surveillance inside the United States. FISA generally requires the government to seek warrants before monitoring Americans’ communications. However, it has seen several amendments and expansions since the tragedy of 9/11. In particularly, President Bush authorized the NSA to launch a warrantless wiretapping program in 2001, and Congress ratified and expanded that program in 2008. Find case-based tools on FISA here.

Miranda rights have become sensationalized in TV shows and movies, but what does "You have the right to remain silent" really mean when defending a criminal case? This page contains resources pertaining to the issue of the right to remain silent and the Fifth Amendment.