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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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.
Coalition letter to Department of Justice Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and Securities and Exchange Commission Director of Enforcement Robert Khuzami regarding enforcement of and forthcoming guidance for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Letter to the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding proposed 1997 Amendments.
Coalition letter to Congressional leadership regarding the penalties imposed on Internet Service Providers for the actions of its users, as proposed in Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (H.R. 1865) and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017 (S. 1693).
President John Wesley Hall's written statement to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security regarding overcriminalization of conduct and overfederalization in the criminal code.
Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Legal Foundation. Appeal from the criminal conviction of a shipping company for unlawful actions of the crew of one of its ships, over which the company had no direct control while on the high seas.
Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Cause of Action Institute, and the National Association of Manufacturers as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners (on Petition for Writ of Certiorari).