Courts are developing protocols for how to safely resume jury trials after the coronavirus pandemic. The defense community cannot allow expedient solutions to backlogged dockets to subvert the Constitution by sanctioning proceedings that fall short of constitutional and statutory protections.

Without bold action, jails and prisons could become the epicenters of the coronavirus.

The imposition of the death penalty is on the decline. However, 40 execution dates have been scheduled by seven states and the federal government for 2020.

Congress amended 18 U.S.C. § 3582 to permit prisoners to file their own motions for compassionate release.

E.G. Morris discusses the current state of the bail system. He believes that pretrial release conditions requiring financial conditions must be used as a last resort. An accused should be released on personal recognizance unless an evidence-based determination is made that the individual presents a flight risk or imminent physical harm to others.

To what extent, if any, does Brady apply in the plea bargaining process?

Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions illustrate how the continued use of the death penalty will inevitably invite arbitrary results and fails to serve any legitimate sentencing purpose.

Arkansas set out to execute eight men in 11 days in April 2017. Barry Pollack gives a brief description of the men and their cases.

When the court appoints standby counsel, should the court limit the role of standby counsel to a consultative one, as the court did in the Dylann Roof case?

Incarcerated individuals are entitled to a basic standard of care, but stories of subhuman conditions still abound in the media. Defense attorneys perhaps can obtain additional doctor visits or proper medication. The fundamental abuses, however, are harder to combat.

Pretrial detention for people who don't need to be detained is foolish and financially wasteful. Through NACDL's Pretrial Release Advocacy Project, NACDL will develop and distribute legal and practical resources so that current knowledge is accessible to practitioners to aid in challenging pretrial detention and bail determinations.

Promoted as a method to combat inherent bias in the criminal justice system, risk assessment instruments are being adopted around the country at the pretrial and parole phases. While advocates claim that risk assessment algorithms can reduce the impact of bias in the criminal justice system, opponents caution otherwise.

Several states are considering legislation that seems to be in response to citizens who engage in public protest. If prosecuted, protesters will need criminal defense lawyers to argue the First Amendment as a complete defense.

The media is under attack. Criminal defense lawyers should speak out in support of journalists in their fight to protect their rights under the First Amendment.

NACDL is committed to alerting the defense bar to the errors made in statements by FBI examiners concerning microscopic hair analysis. It is crucial to identify cases and gather transcripts so that adversely affected defendants have an opportunity to complain and have the assistance of counsel.