NACDL recognizes that sex offenses cause great pain and suffering to victims and their families. However, society’s outrage and condemnation should not impair the need to make criminal justice policy decisions based upon facts, sound scientific research, and evidence.

NACDL opposes sex offender registration and community notification laws but also believes that if such laws are enacted they should classify offenders with full due process of law. Determination of offender risk must also allow for reasonable opportunities to seek relief from registration.

Forensic Computer Experts Larry Daniel, Lars Daniel, and Jake Green from Envista Forensics cover child pornography cases and how experts can help you win your case. Topics include issues related to common social media platforms in child pornography cases, such as Omegle, Discord, Whisper, and Kik, the FBI’s use of undercover covert employees, discovery issues that can turn cases around, and how an expert can help reduce that production case into receipt or possession.

Presented by Mark Satawa of Satawa Law, PLLC, and Mark Mahoney of Harrington and Mahoney

Sex offenses, like child abuse, have a significant and lasting impact on all parties involved: the accused, the alleged victims, families, and communities. These cases are emotional and complex, and can be very intimidating. These resources are meant to make this area less scary and more manageable.

Links to significant reports and research on sex offense laws, sex offender registries and notification laws, and reforms

This enlightening panel discussion focuses on the critical issues in criminal justice reform pertaining to sex offenses. Our panel of experts delves into the complexities, controversies, and recent developments in this vital area of reform.

23^rd Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference
August 14-15, 2024 | Held Virtually

Defense lawyers often ask voir dire questions that do not help them identify the prospective jurors they do not want. Instead, the questions allow the prosecution to identify the jurors it wants to strike. What are some tips to help defense counsel remove jurors who cannot accept the theory of nonguilt?

We strongly oppose A.1065A/S4555B, which would create a category of sex crimes that are unconstitutionally vague. The proposed law fails to give adequate notice of what conduct is prohibited under the law and would lead to unjust application and arbitrary prosecutions and convictions that can lead to a host of lifelong consequences.

Parental alienation is a pathological dynamic in which one parent strives to sever a child’s relationship with the other parent. For example, in a contentious custody battle, allegations of abuse can be initiated by a child at the behest of an alienating parent. Evidence of parental alienation is central to establishing a motive for the child’s allegations. How can defense counsel uncover parental alienation in a criminal case?

What challenges face a defense attorney in a case involving a sex offense? What is the public’s perception of someone who, after serving time for a sex crime, is ready to return to the community? Richard Jones, a defense attorney in Wisconsin, discusses these questions with Quintin Chatman, editor of The Champion. Jones talks about the difficulties and the hurdles involved in sex offender cases, and he reveals his three primary goals for each client.

It is crucial for a defense attorney to know the background and training of the forensic nurse examiner involved in the client’s case. A forensic nurse’s initial education does not include training on how to give an expert opinion related to his or her objective findings. Through continuing education and board certification, however, it is possible for a forensic nurse to be considered an expert.

The NACDL Task Force on Risk Assessment Tools commissioned Dr. Melissa Hamilton to produce a comprehensive analysis of how risk assessment tools are developed and applied. This report is a significant contribution to the body of scholarship and resources concerning risk assessment tools. It is an in-depth and accessible resource for practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and indeed all system actors in the nation’s criminal legal apparatus. It is designed to provide the information and guidance necessary to properly assess various risk assessment tools. [Released November 2020]

NACDL has a keen interest in the development of the nation's penal law. NACDL has long expressed concerns about an increasing trend to dilute or neglect to include clear intent requirements in the criminal law. The issue of inadequate intent - or mens rea -was addressed by NACDL in 2010 in an in-depth, study and report. … The current draft on sexual assault and related offenses would perpetuate the disturbing tendency to dilute intent requirements in the criminal law, and would take that trend into an area of the law that carries grave and life-altering penalties.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Defendant–Appellee Thomas P. Thayer.

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