Washington, DC (Aug. 19, 2016) – Attorney Maureen A. Cain of Denver, CO, was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association's 59th annual meeting in Palm Beach, FL, on August 13.

Cain has been practicing criminal defense in Denver, CO, for 30 years, and in the last 15 years, she has focused her efforts on advancing criminal justice reform legislation. She has worked with the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice where she helped to reform drug sentencing and change penalties for property crimes. She was also instrumental in securing funding to evaluate Colorado sex offender treatment.

She has been involved in the drafting of numerous bills and on negotiations with stakeholders in connection with issues such as sentencing reform, collateral consequences and sex offender parole. Cain has served as policy director and lobbyist for the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and the Colorado Criminal Defense Institute. She presently serves on the Executive Council of the Criminal Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association. In 2004, she received the Gideon Award from the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.

Cain has been an active member of NACDL for many years, primarily through her engagement with the Association's State Criminal Justice Network. She has been a panel presenter on several occasions and also used SCJN resources to aid her reform efforts in Colorado. Cain has also worked with the Innocence Project, the Sentencing Project, the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth, the Pretrial Justice Institute, Pew, Right on Crime, and the Independence Institute. Cain was awarded NACDL's Champion of State Criminal Justice Award in 2014.

Cain received her B.A. from Manhattanville College and her J.D. from the University of Denver College Of Law.

Contacts

Ezra Dunkle-Polier, NACDL Public Affairs & Communications Assistant, (202) 465-7656 or edunkle-polier@nacdl.org for more information.

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 justice system.