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.
This month Robert Sanger reviews Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class by Dan Canon.
This month Elizabeth Ramsey reviews Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining Is a Bad Deal by Carissa Byrne Hessick.
The trial penalty – the massive difference between the sentence criminal defendants typically receives after a plea bargain and the much higher sentence defendants typically receive if they are convicted at trial – is one of the most significant characteristics of the modern American legal system.
In 2021, NACDL worked with partner organizations to convene leaders of the criminal legal reform movement for a two-day Summit on the trial penalty. The Summit, "The Constitutional Right to Trial: Organizing a National Movement to End the Trial Penalty," included discussions focused on understanding the root causes of the trial penalty, solutions, and forming a national coalition dedicated to this work. [Released May 2024]
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 problem of overcriminalization is multifaceted, with many aspects that pervade our criminal legal system, including the criminalization of conduct that is not harmful to society or others; criminal statutes that lack adequate mens rea, or intent, requirements; ambiguous and vague language in criminal statutes that provide insufficient notice and insufficient limitation on what conduct is criminalized; and the imposition of vicarious liability with insufficient requirement that the charged person was involved in, or even knew about, the underlying conduct.
The National Association of Defense Lawyers (NACDL) respectfully submits the following comments on these important proposed amendments.
Criminal defense lawyers should think about how their representation changes depending upon whether the prosecutor’s evidence is overwhelming, whether they believe the client is guilty but the prosecutor’s case is shaky, or they believe the client is innocent of the charges.
The ‘trial penalty’ refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered in a plea offer prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after trial. This penalty is now so severe and pervasive that it has virtually eliminated the constitutional right to a trial. To avoid the penalty, accused persons must surrender many other fundamental rights which are essential to a fair justice system. [NYSACDL & NACDL] [Released March 2021]
The ‘trial penalty’ refers to the substantial difference between the sentence offered in a plea offer prior to trial versus the sentence a defendant receives after trial. This penalty is now so severe and pervasive that it has virtually eliminated the constitutional right to a trial. To avoid the penalty, accused persons must surrender many other fundamental rights which are essential to a fair justice system. [Released July 2018]
Comments on rules & regulations, letters, and testimony submitted to various federal and state legislators and government agencies on behalf of NACDL.
The Plea Bargaining Institute (PBI) is a groundbreaking project that will provide a global intellectual home for academics, policymakers, advocacy organizations, and practitioners working in the plea bargaining space to share knowledge and collaborate.
The Plea Bargaining Institute is excited to announce its new website launching in the Fall of 2023! The site will further the below mission of the Institute and be a first-in-class resource on plea bargaining, and its use in the criminal system. Please check back for updates.
Produced by Wynette Yao and Travis Edwards, “The Vanishing Trial” focuses on four individuals who were forced to make that excruciating choice between pleading guilty or going to trial. Each was threatened with a “trial penalty,” the term used to describe the substantially longer prison sentence a person receives if they exercise their constitutional right to trial instead of pleading guilty. The documentary reveals how the trial penalty has led to the shocking disappearance of one of the most fundamental individual rights and the explosion in America’s prison population.
The undersigned groups are pleased to see that the U.S. Sentencing Commission has made the comparing of sentences imposed in cases disposed of through trial versus plea one of its priorities for the amendment cycle ending May 1, 2024. As groups with significant experience examining the trial versus plea sentencing disparity, we respectfully request a meeting with Commissioners or staff or both who are working on this important issue.