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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Representing Juveniles at Sentencing in Adult Court in the Post-Roper, -Graham, and -Miller Era: The recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Graham, Miller and Jackson have greatly affected the sentencing of juveniles and all aspects of representing a juvenile client in adult court.
During the next 18 months, the work of NACDL’s Juvenile Justice Committee will focus on the landmark decision in Graham v. Florida, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that adolescents who commit non-homicide offenses cannot receive life without the possibility of parole (LWOP), and must be given a meaningful opportunity for release.
Of the 2,500 people in the United States who have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for crimes committed before they were 18, two-thirds of them are concentrated in just five states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana, California, and Florida. There are thousands more children across the country sentenced to “virtual life” sentences of 60, 70, 80, or 100 or more years.
Brief of Juvenile Law Center, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, et al. as Amici Curiae on Behalf of Appellee (full list of amici in appendix to attached brief).
