Co-Sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center’s American Criminal Law Review

The landscape of sentencing policy has shifted in recent years, with federal and state lawmakers advocating fewer draconian penalties and beginning to scale back certain sentences. It is clear that the United States stands at a critical juncture for sentencing reform. This symposium is designed to equip practitioners and policy advocates with the latest strategies and research to seize the moment and foster more rational and humane policies.

In 2007, NACDL established a Problem-Solving Courts Task Force to examine the operations of courts such as drug and mental health courts. The Task Force was charged with conducting a thorough analysis of these courts, specifically focusing upon the ethical implications for the defense bar and the constitutional implications for society at large. The culmination of this project is a comprehensive report and recommendations that for the first time provide the perspective of the nation’s criminal defense bar. [Released September 2009]

Order Granting Compassionate Release 

Argument: Ms. Hatcher, Compassionate Rlease rewuest was pending for over a year. She was recently vaccinated in 2021, after a terrible year in “extreme lockdown” and pivoted to argue that “although the risk to her health posed by COVID-19 may have diminished since the time of her vaccination, the conditions of her imprisonment over the last 13 months constitute “extraordinary and compelling reasons” justifying compassionate release.” The court agreed, because at the time of sentencing, “the Court did not envision Ms. Hatcher to serve this term of imprisonment in near-total lockdown, without the mental health and other support programs that the Court believes to be critical to her health and ability to reenter society.

Federal Bureau of Prisons and Mental Health Treatment presented by John Albanes and Jack Donson

Presented by Laurie Hallmark and Jacqueline Hall and hosted by Beth Blackwood.

Mental Health & Disabilities: How the System Deals with Them presented by Elizabeth Kelley

This month John Albanes reviews Suicide and Its Impact on the Criminal Justice System by Elizabeth Kelley and Francesca Flood.

Drug Courts Endanger Rights, Block Access To Needed Treatment for Drug Users - Washington, DC­ (September 29, 2009) – Drug courts – first created 20 years ago as an emergency response to an epidemic of drug-related criminal cases that clogged courts and prisons – have in many places become an obstacle to making cost-efficient drug abuse therapy available to addicts and reducing criminal case loads, the nation’s largest association of criminal defense attorneys said today.

Summary of results from the survey conducted by the NACDL Problem-Solving Courts Task Force to gather defense attorneys' experiences with drug courts in their jurisdictions.

Transcripts from the hearings in seven cities hosted by the NACDL Problem-Solving Task Force that were held between August 2007 and March 2009.

Problem-solving courts focus attention and resources on specific crimes and criminal behaviors, as well as the root causes of such behaviors. Examples of such courts include drug courts, mental health courts, and domestic violence courts. With over 2,000 existing problem-solving courts in the United States and the prospect of jurisdictions utilizing this model’s practices and principles in conventional courtrooms, the need to study and understand how these courts function and their overall impact on the criminal justice system has become manifest.

This month Elizabeth Kelley reviews Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Christine Montross, M.D.

NACDL's statement to the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice regarding the need for more accountability and transparency in policing to effect meaningful, much-needed reforms.

Medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease can lead to patients experiencing intense urges to gamble, increased sexual urges, and strong desires to spend money. This means Parkinson’s patients can find themselves committing crimes when they begin to suffer from a medically induced impulse control disorder. The authors provide a primer on how defense attorneys can improve their representation of these vulnerable clients.

The authors provide attorneys with guidance when selecting and consulting forensic mental health experts.