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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Our report on "The Trial Penalty," released in 2018, found that over the last 50 years, defendants chose trial in less than three percent of state and federal criminal cases—compared to 30 years ago when 20 percent of those arrested chose trial. The remaining 97 percent of cases were resolved through plea deals.
There is ample evidence that federal criminal defendants are being coerced to plead guilty because the penalty for exercising their constitutional rights is simply too high to risk.
Find case-based tools and more information on pleas here.
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers adopted Ethics Opinion 12-02
Comments with FAMM to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco regarding U.S. Attorney offices requiring waiver of the right to seek compassionate release during plea negotiations.
Comments to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding a proposed amendment to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Brief of National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support Of Respondent.
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).
The decisions in Missouri v. Frye and Lafler v. Cooper are likely to prompt prosecutors to routinely convey plea offers in writing or place those offers on the record.
With the Lafler and Frye decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has widened the Sixth Amendment beyond its precedents, continuing the Court’s expansive approach to that amendment. When an attorney is ineffective regarding the critical decision to enter a guilty plea or go to trial, the Sixth Amendment is implicated. Donna Lee Elm discusses five scenarios: (1) bad advice on the law concerning sentencing, (2) bad advice on the law regarding trial, (3) failure to communicate plea negotiations, (4) bad advice arising from incompetent investigation, and (5) bad advice from prosecutors and judges.
The criminal justice system is built around the jury trial, but almost all defendants plead guilty. Gregory Gilchrist urges defense lawyers to employ the mechanism that killed jury trials — bargaining — to revitalize the jury trial. Specifically, he says lawyers ought to negotiate limited trial waivers in exchange for limited leniency. Trial bargaining offers a tool that will mitigate the harms of plea bargaining and generate more, and sometimes better, options for clients.
No criminal defense lawyer went to law school to become a cog in the criminal justice machine. Unfortunately, with an absolutely astonishingly high number of criminal cases being resolved by guilty plea, that is what many defense lawyers have become.
"Plea Bargained vs. Open Pleas: What the Data Reveal," Westlaw Journal White Collar Crime, March 2017.
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.
An article from Slate and The Fair Punishment Project on drug lab scandals and false convictions within the state of Massachusetts.
