The Congressional Task Force on Overcriminalization held its fourth hearing in November. Composed of five Democrats and five Republicans, the Task Force, which awaits reauthorization after its November 30 expiration, was first created on May 7, 2013, by a unanimous vote of the House Committee on the Judiciary. The Task Force was charged to "conduct hearings and investigations and issue a report on overcriminalization in the federal code, as well as possible solutions." In this podcast, we hear from Shana-Tara Regon, NACDL’s Director of White Collar Crime Policy, about this groundbreaking task force, the work it has done, and the critically important work that lies ahead. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer and Elsa-Maria Ohman, production assistants; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 13m17s

On Constitution Day 2013, NACDL organized a briefing on Capitol Hill as part of its efforts to address the crisis in Federal Indigent Defense. Among the nation’s leading experts in this field who presented at that briefing was Professor Norman Lefstein, Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. A few weeks after the event, we caught up with Professor Lefstein by phone and asked that he share with our audience the important messages that he delivered on Capitol Hill that day. He graciously agreed. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer and Elsa Ohman, production assistants; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 22m 22s.   

On July 17, 2013, The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, and the New York County Lawyers’ Association released Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System, a critically important and inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America’s criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them. This conference report prepared by Professor Tanya E. Coke is based upon a multi-day, open and frank discussion among a distinguished group of criminal justice experts – prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, scholars, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated advocates.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we hear from David LaBahn, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and Nicole Austin-Hillery, director and counsel of the Washington, D.C. office of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. Both the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and the Brennan Center were co-sponsors of this important conference and report. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer, production assistant; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 30m04s.

On July 17, 2013, The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, and the New York County Lawyers’ Association released Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System, a critically important and inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America’s criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them. This conference report prepared by Professor Tanya E. Coke is based upon a multi-day, open and frank discussion among a distinguished group of criminal justice experts – prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, scholars, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated advocates.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we hear from Barbara Moses, President of the New York County Lawyers’ Association, which hosted the conference, and Professor Tanya E. Coke, who prepared the report. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer, production assistant; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we’ll learn about several tools being used by law enforcement to gather information from our cell phones, and why they may not be as reliable as law enforcement suggests. I sat down with Nicole Hardin, an assistant public defender in the State of Florida. She works out of Ocala in the Fifth District and handles mainly felony cases and is also co-counsel on several death penalty cases. Nicole was a presenter at NACDL’s Spring Meeting & Seminar, “Suppress It! – Litigating Fourth Amendment Issues.” Her portion of the program was on Search, Seizure and Cell Phones, and how to take on the state’s so-called 'irrefutable' evidence. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer, production assistant; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 15m 10s

On July 17, 2013, The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, and the New York County Lawyers’ Association released Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System, a critically important and inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America’s criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them. This conference report prepared by Consultant Tanya E. Coke is based upon a multi-day, open and frank discussion among a distinguished group of criminal justice experts – prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, scholars, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated advocates.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we hear about this important new report, its findings and recommendations, as well as the conference that led to it, from NACDL’s State Legislative Affairs Director Angelyn Frazer, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem Executive Director Rick Jones, and Executive Director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions Dr. Divine Pryor. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan J. Dominguez, host; Isaac Kramer, production assistant; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 25m 36s

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we explore NACDL’s recently launched Domestic Drone Information Center. We’ll hear from NACDL’s Executive Director Norman Reimer, National Security and Privacy Counsel Mason Clutter, and Manager for Grassroots Advocacy Chris Glen about why NACDL launched the Domestic Drone Information Center and what the center offers the public and the criminal defense bar. Learn more about NACDL. Isaac Kramer, production assistant and guest host; Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 10m 52s.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we explore law and sentencing issues in the child pornography context. We are privileged to speak with two of the nation’s leading experts in this area -- Michael Iacopino, co-chair of NACDL’s Sex Offender Policy Committee and an attorney in private practice based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Iacopino is also the immediate past president of the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. We also hear from Mark Allenbaugh, former staff attorney to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, who is the co-chair of NACDL’s Sentencing Committee and an attorney in private practice with offices in the D.C. area, Ohio and California. The discussion also covers the recent U.S. Sentencing Commission Report to Congress on Federal Child Pornography Offenses. Learn more about NACDL.Steven Logan, production supervisor; Isaac Kramer, production assistant. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 26m 37s.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket, we’ll hear about two important indigent defense reports recently issued by NACDL. First, we hear from NACDL’s Indigent Defense Counsel John Gross about the report he authored entitled Rationing Justice: The Underfunding of Assigned Counsel Systems. This report was released to coincide with today’s 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. We also hear from NACDL Executive Director Norman Reimer and Indiana Law Professor Joel Schumm about a report released jointly with the ABA/SCLAID earlier this year -- National Indigent Defense Reform: The Solution is Multifaceted. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan Dominguez, host. Steven Logan, production supervisor. Isaac Kramer, production assistant. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 13m 30s.

In this episode of The Criminal Docket you’ll hear about an incredible new NACDL initiative, the “Getting Scholarship into Court Project,” which is being led by an academic advisory board comprised of some 18 leading scholar practitioners in the criminal justice field. We speak with a few of those leaders in this episode. The project’s purpose is to identify scholarship that will be especially useful to courts and practitioners. NACDL will post the “must-read” lists in The Champion magazine and elsewhere, with abstracts specifically tailored by the articles’ authors to speak to the needs of criminal defense practitioners. Learn more about NACDL. Ivan Dominguez, host. Steven Logan, production supervisor. Music West Bank (Lezet) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 and Walkabout (Digital Primitives) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. Running time: 12:58