NACDL's 19th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference
August 17-19, 2020 | Held Virtually
Lessons Learned: Combatting Misinformation Around Bail Reform- Case Study on the New York Bail Reform Pushback

Presented by Isaac Bryan, Master of Public Policy candidate, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Race Matters II: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
January 10-11, 2019 | Los Angeles, CA

On April 6 and 7, 2017, NACDL, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the Monroe Freedman Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics at Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Center for Court Innovation, and the State of New York Unified Court System convened a conference designed to explore the impediments to and reforms needed to ensure effective justice in all stages of the criminal process, with a particular focus on the judicial role in high-volume misdemeanor courts. [Released December 2017]

NACDL continues to work to combat misinformation and pushback to key bail reforms enacted in New York.

Summary of provisions in the FY 2023 New York State budget that impact bail, discovery, and other criminal justice reforms. 

Coalition letter calling upon Governor Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Benjamin, and legislative leaders to protect bail, discovery, and Raise the Age reforms in New York.

Find training materials and resources to assist attorneys in providing high quality representation as part of the Texas Counsel At First Appearance (CAFA) Project.

Coalition letter to Governor Greg Abbott, of Texas, regarding his executive order (GA-13) refusing to allow release of inmates from state detention facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Guide to Address Risk Assessment Tools

In the report released November 2020, NACDL provided an in-depth analysis of risk assessment instruments that demystifies the process by which they are developed and applied in practice.

The Bail Reform Act was supposed to authorize detention for a narrow set of people: those who are highly dangerous or pose a high risk of absconding. But in many cases, judges and prosecutors are jailing people for reasons not allowed by the statutory rules. It is time to bring federal pretrial detention practices back in line with the law.

Hidden in Plain Sight — Reconsidering the Use of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms (bond & the criminal legal system is used as an example). Published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This month Patrick J. Boylan reviews Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America by Peter Edelman.

Pretrial risk assessment tools have emerged as the favored reform in the movement to lower pretrial jailing and limit the abuses of money bail. Critics have voiced concern, however, over the threat that risk assessments perpetuate racial bias inherent in the criminal justice system. When a risk assessment tool recommends that a client be detained or released with conditions — particularly a client of color — lawyers must be prepared to point out the tool’s limitations and biases.

as Part of the Risk Assessment Panorama

Researchers have expressed enthusiasm for the study of the “biology” of crime and the related development of “neuroprediction,” one aspect of which is the attempt to use brain imaging techniques to corroborate a risk of violence assessment. While lawyers are not yet likely to encounter neuroscience evidence when they litigate the admissibility of a prediction of future violence, they should track developments in this area.

Presented by: Daniel Zettler, public defender, Salida, CO; Elsa Archambault, public defender, Centennial, CO; Justin Bogan, public defender, Durango, CO; and Sheryl Uhlmann, public defender, Steamboat Springs, CO