Washington, DC (May 25, 2021) – Today, the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The statement below is from NACDL President Christopher W. Adams:

One year following the shocking and unacceptable killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, a horrific event witnessed by millions upon millions of people across the nation and around the world, NACDL recommits itself to the nation’s collective and imperative obligation to end the systemic racism that permeates the U.S. criminal legal system and the death and destruction it inflicts on people of color throughout this nation.

NACDL envisions a society where all individuals receive fair, rational, and humane treatment within the criminal legal system. And at its core, NACDL’s mission is to identify and reform flaws and inequities in the criminal legal system, and to redress systemic racism.

To further this critical vision and mission in a profoundly effective manner, in the months following George Floyd’s death NACDL launched the NACDL Full Disclosure Project, which aims to disrupt the culture of secrecy that systematically and pervasively shields law enforcement misconduct by changing police secrecy laws and by empowering the defense community to track police misconduct. The Full Disclosure Project recognizes that all too often police killings involve officers with a long history of misconduct allegations and that true systemic reform is only possible with transparency and accountability.

On this day, as every day, it is not enough simply to be ‘against’ systemic racism and bad actors in law enforcement. As a society, we all have a duty to deploy every resource at our disposal to eliminate these twin scourges fully and forever. NACDL is committed to that future.

Contacts

Ivan Dominguez, NACDL Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications, (202) 465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.