Washington, DC (Aug. 7, 2018) – In 2016, NACDL co-hosted a free law and policy symposium with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform entitled The Enforcement Maze: Over-Criminalizing American Enterprise in Washington, D.C. The day-long symposium featured key leaders from industry, academy, law, and policy across the political spectrum. Together, they addressed the rise of over-criminalization, the inappropriate criminalizing of civil and regulatory matters, why laws need criminal intent requirements, fundamental flaws with the plea bargaining process, criminal discovery abuses and inadequacies of the grand jury process, as well as the use of certain pressures associated with enforcement against business and corporate individuals.
Today, as a follow up to the symposium, NACDL releases a compendium of original scholarship by symposium panelists on subjects ranging from deferred prosecution agreements to discovery, and from federal conspiracy law to grand jury reform, and so much more. The compendium also includes remarks delivered by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA), former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (UT).
“The level of scholarship contained in this compendium is emblematic of the great work of NACDL and its allies from across the political spectrum designed to tackle the manifold challenges we face in America’s broken criminal justice system,” said NACDL President Drew Findling. “Taking on injustice in all contexts, from regulatory and white collar offenses to drug-related crimes, and everything in between, NACDL is committed to being a part of the solution. And this compendium offers a high-level toolbox of insights, ideas, and innovative approaches designed to achieve precisely that.”
To learn more about NACDL’s extensive work in both the white collar and over-criminalization areas, visit www.nacdl.org/whitecollar and www.nacdl.org/overcrim, respectively.
The Enforcement Maze compendium is available at www.nacdl.org/EnforcementMaze. Also available via that link are videos of presentations from the 2016 symposium itself.
NACDL offers its thanks to the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice and to Belmont University College of Law Professor Lucian E. Dervan who served in the key role of reporter for this important project. And of course, NACDL thanks the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, which co-hosted this symposium with NACDL, and provided the venue for that day-long event.
Contacts
Ivan Dominguez, NACDL Director of Public Affairs and Communications, (202) 465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.