August 2018
How can defense lawyers challenge courts and agencies that prohibit medication-assisted treatment for people under criminal justice supervision?
Articles in this Issue
-
Affiliate News
Affiliate News for The Champion August 2018
-
Book Review: American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst
On Feb. 4, 1974, 19-year-old Patricia Campbell Hearst was a sheltered, indifferent Berkeley art student living in a duplex with her fiancé, 25-year-old Steven Weed. That night, a motley crew of self-styled “revolutionaries” knocked on the door. When Weed responded, they forced their way inside. After looking for a “safe,” they blindfolded Hearst, stuffed her into the trunk of their stolen car and drove into the night.
-
Book Review: Deadly Justice: A Statistical Study of the Death Penalty
This book, Deadly Justice, is the culmination of years of research and teaching by Frank Baumgartner — Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — who was assisted by his designated co-authors, Marty Davidson, Kaneesha Johnson, Arvind Krishnamurthy and Colin Wilson — all Baumgartner’s former students — as well as Betsy Neill and Justin Cole, who are designated co-authors of individual chapters. It is not only a remarkable intellectual accomplishment by all of them, but also the result will be of tremendous use to capital case litigators, academics, journalists, legislators and, one hopes, judicial clerks and the judiciary itself. In fact, to say the book is a culmination is misleading; it is a living organism. The book is augmented by a website through which the authors openly provide for replication of their charts, figures and maps. They also provide links to other sources and express the intention to keep their research up to date. I will go so far as to say that every capital case litigator and anyone else dealing with or writing about the death penalty should have this book and should have the webpage tabbed on their browser.1
-
Book Review: Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling
Long before Ted Kaczynski, a man called F.P. set off three dozen pipe bombs throughout New York City in the 1940s and 1950s. By 1956, the NYPD had spent 16 years fruitlessly attempting to identify and capture the “Mad Bomber.” None of these bombs proved lethal to the public, and not all of them even detonated. But, as the author notes, it “brought into being a culture of fear more than four decades before terrorism became an American fixation.” Author Michael Cannell details the dangers faced by the members of the NYPD Bomb Squad, as well as the state of terror created by explosions in crowded, random places such as the New York City subway, Grand Central Terminal, Radio City Music Hall, and the New York Public Library.
-
Counseling the Addicted Client: A Responsible and Restorative Practice
A client’s arrest on DUI charges could be the client’s “rock bottom” in the journey to overcome addiction. This is a delicate and crucial time for clients, and it is important that defense lawyers are just as skillful at guiding clients toward sobriety as they are when litigating in the courtroom. Attorneys who limit their practice solely to representing the client on the criminal charges are missing an opportunity to develop a deeper lawyer-client relationship and to help their client avoid future issues with the law. Counsel should take the time to really speak to the client and find out more about his relationship with drugs or alcohol. Learning about new substance abuse treatments is as important as reading new case law. Doing so provides an invaluable service and assists in obtaining the best possible result for clients.
-
Defense Lawyers and the Opioid Epidemic: Advocating for Addiction Medication
Although the destruction caused by the opioid epidemic has impacted every stage of the criminal justice system, probation and parole and drug courts sometimes prohibit the use of methadone and other medications to treat opioid use disorder. Policies prohibiting medication-assisted treatment (MAT) are harmful to public health and safety, and these policies can violate state and federal laws. Defense lawyers can help stem this harm by filing challenges when MAT is prohibited. Sally Friedman and Melissa Trent discuss the legal arguments attorneys can put forth.
-
From the President: Will ‘Zero Tolerance’ at the Border Finally Bring a Spotlight on the Injustice
That Is ‘Zero Tolerance’?
The concept of “zero tolerance” within the criminal justice system is nothing new. Zero-tolerance policies allow for a quick and easy method of criminalization that is contrary to an effective and moral criminal justice system.
-
Getting Scholarship Into Court Project
The “Getting Scholarship Into Court Project” brings helpful law review articles and other writings to the attention of criminal defense attorneys.
-
Inside NACDL: NACDL Embarks on Its 7th Decade with an Infusion of New Talent
At its Annual Meeting on July 28, 2018, NACDL installed one of the largest classes of directors and officers in its history.
-
NACDL News: NACDL Presents Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award to Ga. Gov. Nathan Deal a
On Aug. 23, 2018, NACDL presented Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Awards to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates. The presentations were made in Atlanta at the NACDL Presidential Summit and State Criminal Justice Network Conference — Shattering the Shackles of Collateral Consequences.
-
NACDL News: Second Chance Center Receives NACDL’s Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award
On Aug. 24, 2018, the Second Chance Center (SCC) in Aurora, Colorado, was presented with NACDL’s Champion of State Criminal Justice Reform Award at NACDL’s 17th Annual State Criminal Justice Network (SCJN) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The award recognizes an individual or group whose tremendous efforts have led toward progressive reform of a state criminal justice system.
-
Practice Points: Top 10 Rules for Slide Shows
Slide shows can help make a presentation more effective by illustrating a presenter’s points and keeping an audience engaged. Like most things in life, however, there are rules that should be followed. Public defender Al Menaster offers his Top 10 rules for slide shows. The goal is to make a lawyer’s opening statements, final arguments and presentations great, using technology to help. A slide show heavy on quotations and text is going to be a bad show. Is there a picture or a sound effect that can be used? Try to come up with an interesting theme. This is how people learn and remember. Use these 10 rules to make slide shows sizzle.
-
Under Indictment, or Why I Talk to Raccoons
Real estate lawyer James Wright can vividly recall the morning federal marshals stormed into his office and arrested him for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. For the next two years, prosecutors spent a considerable amount of time, money, and resources trying to convince him that unless he pleaded guilty, he would spend most of the remainder of his life in prison. Would he be able to withstand the government storm?