What challenges face a defense attorney in a case involving a sex offense? What is the public’s perception of someone who, after serving time for a sex crime, is ready to return to the community? Richard Jones, a defense attorney in Wisconsin, discusses these questions with Quintin Chatman, editor of The Champion. Jones talks about the difficulties and the hurdles involved in sex offender cases, and he reveals his three primary goals for each client.

It is crucial for a defense attorney to know the background and training of the forensic nurse examiner involved in the client’s case. A forensic nurse’s initial education does not include training on how to give an expert opinion related to his or her objective findings. Through continuing education and board certification, however, it is possible for a forensic nurse to be considered an expert.

The next installment of NACDL's Engage & Exchange Video Discussion Series–Digital Forensics in Child Exploitation Cases, covering child pornography cases and how experts can help you win your case. The webinar featured Forensic Computer Experts Larry Daniel, Lars Daniel, and Jake Green from Envista Forensics.

The first installment of NACDL Engage & Exchange, Autism Spectrum Disorder (Including "Asperger's Syndrome") and Child Pornography Cases: What You Need to Know. Featuring Mark Satawa of Satawa Law, PLLC, and Mark Mahoney of Harrington and Mahoney.

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]

Links to significant reports and research on sex offense laws, sex offender registries and notification laws, and reforms

NACDL has a keen interest in the development of the nation's penal law. NACDL has long expressed concerns about an increasing trend to dilute or neglect to include clear intent requirements in the criminal law. The issue of inadequate intent - or mens rea -was addressed by NACDL in 2010 in an in-depth, study and report. … The current draft on sexual assault and related offenses would perpetuate the disturbing tendency to dilute intent requirements in the criminal law, and would take that trend into an area of the law that carries grave and life-altering penalties.

NACDL recognizes that sex offenses cause great pain and suffering to victims and their families. However, society’s outrage and condemnation should not impair the need to make criminal justice policy decisions based upon facts, sound scientific research, and evidence.

NACDL opposes sex offender registration and community notification laws but also believes that if such laws are enacted they should classify offenders with full due process of law. Determination of offender risk must also allow for reasonable opportunities to seek relief from registration.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Defendant–Appellee Thomas P. Thayer.

Table of Contents Included in Document 

Memorandum in Support of Habeas Petition in Child Sex Abuse Case

Open Records Request

Letter to Defense Expert

Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus 

Moiton for New Trial 

Motion for Issuance and Enforcement of Subpoena for Additional Medical Records 

Ruling on Motion for New Trial and Ruling by Georgia Court of Appeals

At its upcoming meeting on August 12 – 13, 2019, The American Bar Association House of Delegates will consider a resolution concerning the definition of consent in sexual assault cases. NACDL opposes the proposed resolution. The resolution and report appear below, as does the NACDL position and a counter proposal, a letter from members of the American Law Institute, whose consideration of this matter is referenced in the ABA report, and a letter in support of the proposed resolution.

The goal of trying to put an end to child sex offenses is one on which everyone can agree. The best way to meet that goal, however, is debatable. Individuals that children know are responsible for 90% of sex crimes against them. Alix Deschamp discusses the origins of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and shows how the original legislation developed into not only a law enforcement tool but also a punitive measure.

Cases alleging child sex abuse often hinge on the forensic interview of the alleged victim, and thus the forensic interview should be the first place defense counsel looks. In this article, a forensic psychologist and a criminal defense lawyer discuss the forensic interview and how failure to follow best practices may encourage false allegations and elicit misinformation.

Comments to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines.

Comments to the U.S. Sentencing Commission on the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing ("CAN-SPAM") Act of 2003.