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.
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NACDL, with its diverse membership of 10,000 spanning state, federal, and military practice, wishes to express its views on preferred Commission priorities. We concur with other advocates and stakeholders that current sentences are excessively long, and certain sentencing factors disproportionately affect racial minorities within the criminal legal system. Whatever issues the Commission determines to prioritize, these flaws should be foremost in considering potential amendments.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and NACDL filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking public records detailing the Department of Justice’s implementation of December 2022 memoranda establishing new policies for all federal prosecutors’ charging and sentencing practices.
The National Association of Defense Lawyers (NACDL) respectfully submits the following comments on the Commission’s possible policy priorities for the amendment cycle ending May 1, 2024.
We urge you to vote “no” on S. 1080, the Cooper Davis Act. The bill purports to address the sale of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and “counterfeit substances” by coopting online services to report the alleged or suspected creation, manufacture, or distribution of these substances … Rather than meaningfully addressing the public health crisis caused by such substances, this bill would … undermin[e] the Fourth Amendment and the Stored Communications Act, likely with disproportionate effects on people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized communities.
The undersigned national, state, and local public health and criminal justice reform organizations write today to urge you to reject and vote NO on the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl (HALT) Act (H.R. 467). This bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances (FRS) on schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) based on a 2 flawed class definition, imposes mandatory minimums, and fails to provide an offramp for removing inert or harmless substances from the drug schedule.
NACDL hereby responds to the Commission’s request for comment on retroactive application to Amendment 3 from this year’s amendment cycle, which decreased the drug table set forth in USSG §2D1.1 by two-offense levels across all drug types and without limit to any specific offender characteristics. NACDL joins with the Federal Defenders and the Practitioners Advisory Group in whole-heartedly endorsing retroactivity without any limitation.
NACDL President Jim Lavine's written statement to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines, particularly in relation to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (S. 1789).
NACDL President Edward Mallett's written statement to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines for ecstasy offenses.
Written statement of NACDL second vice president E.E. (Bo) Edwards to the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control regarding the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (H.R. 3164, 1999).
Coalition letter to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding sentencing policies for federal cocaine offenses.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a bar association with thousands of criminal defense lawyers who practice in the federal courts across our nation, fully supports elimination of the unwarranted disparity in federal cocaine sentences pursuant to “The Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act” [H.R. 4545/S. 1711]. Federal sentences for drug offenses are based on the weight of the controlled substance. For two decades, federal sentencing laws have treated possession of one gram of cocaine base as the equivalent of 100 grams of powder cocaine.
Op-Ed opposing Arizona House Bill 2021, which would create the crime of drug trafficking homicide. Published in the Arizona Capitol Times on March 2, 2022. By Jeremiah Goulka of the Health in Justice Action Lab.
Fact sheet with talking points on why Arizona should defelonize drug and paraphernalia possession. Published by coalition of organizations including NACDL, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, ACLU Smart Justice Arizona, 4Tuscon, Just Communities Arizona, League of Women Voters of Arizona, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, and Sonoran Prevention Works.
Coalition letter to the California Assembly Appropriations Committee regarding a proposal to repeal mandatory minimums and allow for more judicial discretion in sentencing for certain drug offenses, as outlined in SB 73 (2020).
Coalition letter to members of the Senate regarding the federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses and the plan to eliminate them as addressed in the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act (S. 79/H.R. 1693, 2021).
