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.
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The NACDL Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award recognizes an individual or group whose exceptional efforts have led toward progressive reform of a state criminal justice system.
Every year, NACDL brings together advocates from around the country for our annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference. This conference offers participants an opportunity to hear from experts on state criminal justice reform and the opportunity to network with like-minded advocates.
Conference information and relevant materials to the panels presented at the 17th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference and 2nd Annual Presidential Summit titled Shattering the Shackles of Collateral Consequences: Exploring Moral Principles and Economic Innovations to Restore Rights and Opportunity, held August 23-25, 2018, in Atlanta, GA.
In August 2018, NACDL hosted its 17th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference and 2nd Annual Presidential Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The Conference examined the destructive effect that a vast network of penalties, debarments, and disabilities following a criminal conviction has on the millions of people who have come in contact with the criminal justice system. [Released June 2019]
NACDL's State Criminal Justice Network Newsletter features a snapshot of NACDL's state criminal justice priorities, as well as recent internal and external reports, information on upcoming events, webinars, current state legislative reform efforts, legislative tracking, action alerts and more! The newsletter is disseminated monthly via email.
A criminal conviction can lead to permanent loss of voting rights. Disenfranchising millions of Americans due to a criminal conviction undercuts the promise of democracy and severely weakens the power of communities, particularly those most harmed by the legal system, to meaningfully shape the political bodies that are supposed to represent them.
NACDL’s 22nd Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference was held virtually on August 16-17, 2023. Here you will find the conference agenda and buttons to access the conference materials, speaker biographies, and other resources.
22nd Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference August 16-17, 2023 | Held Virtually
As movements to reform flaws in the criminal legal system resulted in a growing number of states passing impactful bipartisan measures, the justice reform movement also faced swift backlash, as the 2020 uptick in homicides was utilized to stoke fear around recent policy changes and to push regressive proposals that would walk back the move toward greater justice, equality and authentic safety.
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.
Law enforcement has increasingly turned to Google to identify criminal suspects by using digital dragnets that search millions or billions of people at once.
Despite assurances that, “[I]n our society, liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial…the carefully limited exception,” over 75 percent of those detained in local jails have not been convicted of a crime.
Explore the mechanisms that incentivize police to engage in pretextual traffic stops and examine state and local efforts to stop law enforcement from enforcing minor traffic infractions.
2023 marks the 50th year since the U.S. prison population began its extraordinary surge. As advocates mark 50 years of mass incarceration, what is needed to meaningfully decarcerate our nation’s jails and prisons?
We write to ask that you rescind your support, as members of the Virginia Municipal League, for racial profiling practices by Virginia law enforcement—euphemistically known as “pretextual policing”—and to invite you to an informal presentation on this important criminal justice issue.
Conference information and resources relevant to the panels presented at the 22nd Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference, which will be held virtually August 16-17, 2023.
