NACDL Reports

NACDL's numerous studies, reports, and recommendations are described and linked to from this page. From body cameras to discovery reform, and from public defense to electronic surveillance, NACDL's groundbreaking research and reform proposals can be found here.

Obtaining, Organizing, and Opening Police Misconduct Data

NACDL’s Full Disclosure Project co-hosted a 4-day online convening in collaboration with the Invisible Institute and WITNESS in November 2021 to bring together practitioners to discuss the potential benefits and harms of collecting and disseminating policing data and connect data collections efforts with organizing aimed at effecting change. The report aims to share the key principles, tensions and practices that we discussed; help guide ongoing conversations and development of best practices; and inform future project planning and funding decisions. [Released March 2023]
Without Intent Revisited: Assessing the Intent Requirement in Federal Criminal Law 10 Years Later

This study of the 114^th Congress revisits a 2010 joint report by the Heritage Foundation and NACDL: Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law. This new study found that Congress still regularly introduces bills with new criminal provisions that contain mens rea requirements that are not sufficiently protective. In fact, 42% of the bills analyzed had criminal intent requirements that were considered inadequate. [Released December 2021]
Garbage In, Gospel Out

How Data-Driven Policing Technologies Entrench Historic Racism and 'Tech-Wash' Bias in the Criminal Legal System

This NACDL Predicative Policing Task Force Report (1) calls attention to the rapid development and deployment of data-driven policing; (2) situates data-driven policing within the racialized historical context of policing and the criminal legal system; (3) makes actionable recommendations that respond to the reality, enormity, and impact of data-driven policing; and (4) suggests strategies for defense lawyers in places where data-driven policing technology is employed.
Abortion in America: How Legislative Overreach Is Turning Reproductive Rights Into Criminal Wrongs

This Report outlines current legal statutes that criminalize abortion and the impact overturning Roe v. Wade would have on laws to prosecute and incarcerate those providing, receiving, or assisting with abortions. It details the risk that, without protections provided by Roe v. Wade, many states can and will continue to pass laws that further inflame the national crisis of overcriminalization and mass incarceration. [Released August 2021]
Shining a Light on the “S” Visa: A Long History of Unfulfilled Promises and Bureaucratic Red Tape

The S Visa is a special program designed to allow law enforcement to provide legal status to remain in the U.S. to non-citizens cooperating with investigations and prosecutions, in exchange for that cooperation. This report and its recommendations shine the light on the failure of government to properly administer the S Visa Program. Currently, eligible individuals who might provide information and cooperation are discouraged, and their attorneys find themselves unable to assure clients of the government’s ability to timely follow through on the exchange. [Released June 2021]
The New York State Trial Penalty: The Constitutional Right to Trial Under Attack

The ‘trial penalty’ refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered in a plea offer prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after trial. This penalty is now so severe and pervasive that it has virtually eliminated the constitutional right to a trial. To avoid the penalty, accused persons must surrender many other fundamental rights which are essential to a fair justice system. [NYSACDL & NACDL] [Released March 2021]
Preserving Incarcerated Persons’ Attorney-Client Privilege in the 21st Century

Why the Federal Bureau of Prisons Must Stop Monitoring Confidential Legal Emails

This report by NACDL and the Samuelson Clinic makes the case for Congress to act immediately to protect the attorney-client privilege in emails sent between attorneys' offices and people in BOP custody. It also calls for the BOP to stop its practice of requiring incarcerated clients to “voluntarily” agree that their email will be monitored and that attorney-client privilege will not apply to legal emails, just as the government is required to in other contexts. [Released December 2020]
Second Look = Second Chance: The NACDL Model “Second Look” Legislation

On December 10, 2020, NACDL released its model “Second Look” sentencing legislation and accompanying report – Second Look = Second Chance: Turning the Tide Through NACDL’s Model “Second Look” Legislation. The NACDL model legislation provides a vehicle that legislatures can use to safely reduce the number of individuals serving excessive, counter-productive sentences: guaranteeing all incarcerated individuals a “Second Look” once they have spent at least a decade in prison. [Released December 2020; Revised Edition Released June 2021]
Risk Assessment Tools in the Criminal Legal System – Theory and Practice: A Resource Guide

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]
Criminal Court Reopening and Public Health in the COVID-19 Era

NACDL: Jury Trials Not Safe Until COVID-19 Pandemic Under Control [Released June 2020]
Texas Bail Manual

Review Texas pretrial statutes, case law, and practices, and gain new insights and practice points, in order to best advocate for your client. [Released May 2020]
Shattering the Shackles of Collateral Consequences

Exploring Moral Principles and Economic Innovations to Restore Rights and Opportunity

In August 2018, NACDL hosted its 17^th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference and 2^nd 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]
Harris County Pretrial Advocacy

NACDL's work on pretrial advocacy in Harris County, Texas highlighted by the publication of the Harris County Bail Manual. [Released December 2018]
Wisconsin Pretrial Advocacy

NACDL's work on pretrial advocacy in Wisconsin highlighted by the publication of the Wisconsin Bail Manual. [Released October 2018]
The Enforcement Maze: Overcriminalizing American Enterprise

On May 26, 2016, NACDL co-hosted a free law and policy symposium with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform entitled The Enforcement Maze: Over-Criminalizing American Enterprise. The day-long symposium featured key leaders from industry, academy, law and policy across the political spectrum. [Released August 2018]
The Trial Penalty: The Sixth Amendment Right to Trial on the Verge of Extinction and How to Save It

The ‘trial penalty’ refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered in a plea offer prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after trial. This penalty is now so severe and pervasive that it has virtually eliminated the constitutional right to a trial. To avoid the penalty, accused persons must surrender many other fundamental rights which are essential to a fair justice system. [Released July 2018]
Judicial Responsibility for Justice in Criminal Courts

On April 6 and 7, 2017, NACDL, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the Monroe Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics at Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Center for Court Innovation, and the State of New York Unified Court System convened a conference designed to explore the impediments to and reforms needed to ensure effective justice in all stages of the criminal process, with a particular focus on the judicial role in high-volume misdemeanor courts. [Released December 2017]
The Rhode Island Project: A Study of the Rhode Island Public Defender System

and Attorney Workload Standards

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]
Challenging Government Hacking in Criminal Cases

Over the past several years, the government has increasingly turned to hacking and malware as an investigative technique. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun deploying software designed to infiltrate and control, disable, or surveil a computer's use and activity. The ACLU created a guide, to which NACDL and EFF contributed, that sets out key legal arguments and strategies for challenging evidence seized by government-installed computer malware. [Released March 2017]
Policing Body Cameras: Policies and Procedures to Safeguard the Rights of the Accused

In response to a series of high-profile police killings of unarmed people of color, law enforcement agencies across the country began adopting body cameras as a solution to requests for more transparency and accountability. In order to study the impact of body cameras on the rights of the accused, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers established a Body Camera Task Force comprised of defense attorneys from across the country. [Released March 2017]
State of Crisis: Chronic Neglect and Underfunding for Louisiana’s Public Defense System

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]
Rush to Judgment: How South Carolina’s Summary Courts Fail to Protect Constitutional Rights

Researchers systematically gathered data from magistrate and municipal courts in five counties. The research confirms that there is a pervasive lack of procedural justice and fairness in these courts. Far too many accused persons are not advised of basic constitutional rights, and even when they are, those rights are not respected. [Released January 2017]
New Jersey Pretrial Advocacy

NACDL's work on pretrial advocacy in New Jersey highlighted by the publication of the New Jersey Bail Manual. [Released December 2016]
Gideon at 50: Representation in all Criminal Prosecutions (Part 3)

The Right to Counsel in State Courts

This 50-state Survey of Right to Counsel Standards documents how states decide when a qualifying individual charged with criminal wrongdoing is entitled to receive appointed counsel. Some states only appoint counsel in cases of actual incarceration following conviction, while others mandate appointed counsel based solely on the fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime. Other states fall between these standards and appoint counsel when a sentence of incarceration is authorized or likely to be imposed following conviction. [Released October 2016]
The Right to Counsel in Indiana: Evaluation of Trial Level Indigent Defense Services

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 Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age

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]
Summary Injustice: A Look at Constitutional Deficiencies in South Carolina’s Summary Courts

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]
Colorado Pretrial Advocacy

NACDL's work on pretrial advocacy in Colorado induding the publication of the Colorado Bail Manual. [Released September 2015]
Federal Indigent Defense 2015: The Independence Imperative

In the wake of the severe cuts to the provision of indigent defense services during sequestration in 2013, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) created a Federal Indigent Defense Task Force to examine the federal indigent defense system. The mission included an assessment of the level of independence afforded to the Office of Defender Services and consideration of whether reforms are necessary to ensure adherence to the ABA’s Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System. [Released September 2015]
Mail Cover Surveillance: Problems and Recommendations

NACDL's Fourth Amendment Advocacy Committee carefully and comprehensively studied issues concerning the current United States Postal Service Mail Covers regime following the revelations in The New York Times investigative report in connection with the 2014 U.S. Postal Service audit of the program. The concerns raised by this program and its operation fall squarely within NACDL's long history of advocating for the vitality of Americans' privacy and Fourth Amendment rights -- in the courts, in the legislatures, in executive agencies, and in the public arena. [Released April 2015]
Criminal Conspiracy: Position Paper and Proposals for Reform

At its spring 2015 meeting in Las Vegas, NACDL’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution on criminal conspiracy law reform. The resolution is guided by a position paper drafted by NACDL’s Conspiracy Reform Subcommittee and adopts the recommendations therein. [Released April 2015]
Material Indifference: How Courts Are Impeding Fair Disclosure in Criminal Cases

The integrity of the criminal justice system relies on the guarantees made to the actors operating within it. For the accused, the guarantee of fair process includes not only the right to put on a defense, but to put on a complete defense. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the importance of this guarantee over 50 years ago, in Brady v. Maryland, when it declared that failure to disclose favorable information violates the constitution when that information is material. This guarantee, however, is frequently unmet. [Released November 2014]
What's Old is New Again: Retaining Fourth Amendment Protections in Warranted Digital Searches

(Pre-Search Instructions and Post-Search Reasonableness)

A Report by NACDL’s Fourth Amendment Advocacy Committee Reporter, Steven R. Morrison [Released July 2014]
Collateral Damage: America's Failure to Forgive or Forget in the War on Crime

A Roadmap to Restore Rights and Status After Arrest or Conviction

Between 2012 and 2014, NACDL’s Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction embarked on a study of relief mechanisms available to those with a conviction on their record on the local, state and federal level. At an event at the Open Society Foundations in Washington, DC, NACDL released a major new report that comprehensively explored the stigma and policies relegating tens of millions of people in America to second-class status because of an arrest or conviction. [Released May 2014]
Gideon at 50: Redefining Indigence: Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel (Part 2)

This 50-State Survey of Financial Eligibility Guidelines for Assigned Counsel documents how states decide who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. The survey looks at how states define “indigency” and whether or not that definition is consistent with ABA standards for providing defense services. It identifies which states rely on the Federal Poverty Guidelines when determining eligibility for assigned counsel, and explains the origin of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and how they cannot accurately predict who is “too poor” to hire a lawyer. [Released March 2014]
Criminal Justice in the 21st Century

Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System

This is a critically important and inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America's criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them. This conference report prepared by Consultant Tanya E. Coke is based upon a multi-day, open and frank discussion among a distinguished group of criminal justice experts – prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, scholars, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated advocates. [Released July 2013]
Gideon at 50: Rationing Justice: The Underfunding of Assigned Counsel Systems (Part 1)

This report documents the unreasonably low rates of compensation paid to private attorneys who represent indigent defendants in state courts. The lack of adequate funding restricts the pool of attorneys willing to represent indigent defendants and creates conflicts of interest for attorneys by encouraging them to limit the amount of work they perform on a case for an indigent client. [Released March 2013]
National Indigent Defense Reform: The Solution is Multifaceted

In 2012, NACDL collaborated with the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID) to host an innovative project to foment broad-based reform. This report highlights the wide-ranging discussion and innovative proposals for reform discussed during the focus group. [Released January 2013]
Electronic Surveillance & Government Access to Third Party Records: White Paper

Federal laws protecting individual privacy rights in electronic communications have not been meaningfully updated in over 25 years, even though many of today’s technologies were not even conceived of when Congress considered the legislation and when the Supreme Court created the “Third Party Doctrine.” This white paper discusses the current status of the law and concludes with recommendations for reform. [Released February 2012]
Evaluating Grand Jury Reform in Two States: The Case for Reform

NACDL issued a groundbreaking new report on restoring and reforming the grand jury system. This research reflects an in-depth study of grand jury reform in two states – New York and Colorado – and produces with four reform recommendations. [Released November 2011]
Three Minute Justice: Haste and Waste in Florida's Misdemeanor Courts

Nearly a half million people, or approximately three percent of Florida's adults, pass through the state's misdemeanor courts each year. Most are found guilty. The average court appearance lasts as little as three minutes. [Released July 2011]
Proposed 18 USC § 3014, Duty to Disclose Favorable Information and Commentary

Many recent cases have exposed the fact that federal prosecutors, whether through negligence or by design, all too often fail to abide by their constitutional duty to disclose information favorable to the defendant. To help ensure fairness in federal criminal proceedings, the Board of Directors of NACDL has endorsed model legislation drafted by NACDL's Discovery Reform Task Force that would require the government to disclose all information favorable to the accused in relation to any issue to be determined in a federal criminal case. [Released May 2011]
Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law

On May 5, 2010, NACDL and The Heritage Foundation released this groundbreaking, non-partisan report. At the release event, NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer described the report as a "blueprint for principled reform" and urged "every elected official to end the madness that has produced over 4,450 federal criminal statutes, and countless tens of thousands more arising from the unchecked power of regulatory authorities." [Released May 2010]
Principles and Recommendations for Strengthening Forensic Science in the Courtroom

Forensic science evidence presented in court is often based on speculative research, subjective interpretations and inadequate quality control procedures, according to this report. Police need to be taken out of the laboratory, and the "crime labs" need to be taken out of the police station, with the goal of ensuring the scientific integrity of forensic science evidence. Neutrality and objectivity are as essential to preventing wrongful convictions and exonerating the innocent as they are to solving crimes and convicting the guilty. [Released February 2010]
America's Problem-Solving Courts: The Criminal Costs of Treatment and the Case for Reform

In 2007, NACDL established a Problem-Solving Courts Task Force to examine the operations of courts such as drug and mental health courts. The Task Force was charged with conducting a thorough analysis of these courts, specifically focusing upon the ethical implications for the defense bar and the constitutional implications for society at large. The culmination of this project is a comprehensive report and recommendations that for the first time provide the perspective of the nation’s criminal defense bar. [Released September 2009]
Minor Crimes, Massive Waste: The Terrible Toll of America's Broken Misdemeanor Courts

The explosive growth of misdemeanor cases is placing a staggering burden on America's courts. Defenders across the country are forced to carry unethical caseloads that leave too little time for clients to be properly represented. As a result, constitutional obligations are left unmet and taxpayers' money is wasted. [Released April 2009]
Proposals to Reform the Federal Money Laundering Statutes

NACDL has proposed several technical statutory amendments to rectify the money laundering regime’s most serious flaws by simplifying and clarifying current law, facilitating compliance efforts by individuals and businesses, and by focusing federal law enforcement on serious misconduct. [Released August 2001]
Federal Grand Jury Reform Report & Bill of Rights

NACDL created The Commission to Reform the Federal Grand Jury, drawing on the expertise of a variety of professionals throughout the criminal justice system. Commissioners spent two years examining the need for changes in the grand jury process and produced a Federal Grand Jury Bill of Rights based on their findings. The ten reforms set forth in this Bill of Rights, largely echoing those proposed by the American Bar Association (ABA) more than 20 years ago, would restore balance to the grand jury process and better protect against unwarranted prosecutions. [Released May 2000]

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