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.
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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.
Showing 1 - 15 of 17 results
Webinar on recantation evidence and its uses for innocence claims.
Table of Contents Included in Document
Memorandum in Support of Habeas Petition in Child Sex Abuse Case
Open Records Request
Letter to Defense Expert
Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus
Moiton for New Trial
Motion for Issuance and Enforcement of Subpoena for Additional Medical Records
Ruling on Motion for New Trial and Ruling by Georgia Court of Appeals
Brief of Amicus Curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Petitioner-Appellant.
Brief of Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL) and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer (NACDL) as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellant and Intervenor.
Letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding penalties and prosecutorial requirements for revenge porn cases, as proposed in the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2896).
Brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellants.
Judge Mark Bennett writes that trial court judges have failed to assist potential jurors in understanding and internalizing the meaning of the presumption of innocence. “Most potential jurors actually believe in the presumption of guilt and not the presumption of innocence,” he states. Unless judges dramatically improve their efforts to explain the presumption of innocence, he does not believe that every juror will be committed to giving the defendant the full benefit of the presumption.
Motion for the production of testimony put before the grand jury in support of the charges of drug distribution, or conspiracy to distribute drugs with the intent to commit rape. This testimony is sought to “avoid a possible injustice”: Nunez’s status as the subject of a prosecution that is not supported by any evidence.
An article by The New York Review of Books on the subject of innocent people pleading guilty when prosecuted.
A PowerPoint presentation outlining the details of post-conviction relief in plea cases.
A PowerPoint presentation on post conviction storytelling and instances of proper utilization within a legal case.
Brief Amici Curiae for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Amicus curiae brief of the Innocence Project, the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, the New England Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of petitioner-appellant Jeffrey R. MacDonald.
Amicus Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Defendant-Appellant and Reversal
"Actual Innocence" May Trigger Release - Washington, DC (May 18, 1998) -- In a decision that could affect hundreds of prisoners across the country, the U.S. Supreme Court today decided that a 1995 case which defined "using or carrying" a firearm in relation to certain crimes may be retroactively applied. Even prisoners who pleaded guilty prior to the 1995 case, Bailey v. United States, should be allowed to show that they are actually innocent of the crime as now defined by the Court, the Chief Justice says in today's decision, Bousley v. United States.
