Initiatives and Projects At-A-Glance The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section has the primary responsibility of working on solutions to issues involving crime, criminal law, and the administration of criminal and juvenile justice for the association. The Section plays an active leadership role in bringing the views of the ABA to the attention of federal and state courts, Congress, and other federal and state judicial, legislative, and executive policy-making bodies. The Section also serves as a resource to its members on issues in the forefront of change in the criminal justice arena. ABA Standards for Criminal Justice The ABA Criminal Justice Standards guide policymakers and practitioners working in the criminal justice arena. In the years since the seventeen volume First Edition, a Second and Third Edition have been completed, and a Fourth Edition is well underway. The Standards continue to be frequently relied upon by judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, legislatures, and scholars who recognize that they are the product of careful consideration and drafting by experienced and fair-minded experts drawn from all parts of the criminal justice system. Current projects include revising the Prosecution and Defense Function Standards, the Mental Health Standards, the Diversion Standards, and development of new Standards on corporate and other monitors. ABA National Inventory of the Collateral Consequences of Conviction Developed with a grant from the National Institute of Justice as a provision of the Court Security Improvement Act, the database collects and analyzes the collateral consequences for each U.S. jurisdiction to help legislators, prosecutors, public defenders and defense lawyers, legal aid organizations and the national media to report, develop and implement safety-enhancing and economically beneficial collateral consequences reforms. Clemency Project 2014 The Clemency Project 2014 was created to assist federal inmates serving sentences for certain non-violent crimes in filing petitions for sentence commutation with the Department of Justice. The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section is a proud member of CP 2014 a working group comprised of lawyers and advocates including, the American Civil Liberties Union, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Federal Public and Community Defenders, and lawyers within those groups. Achieving an Impartial Jury: Addressing Bias in Voir Dire and Deliberations Project The ABA Criminal Justice Section, with co-sponsorship from other ABA entities has embarked on a new project that offers a methodical, research-based approach to increasing impartiality among jurors, attorneys, and judges. The “Achieving an Impartial Jury: Addressing Bias in Voir Dire and Deliberations” Project seeks to create a Tool Chest of user-friendly options for education and debiasing techniques and offers a strategic, collaborative rollout of the Tool Chest and training to courts. ABA Criminal Justice Section Task Force on the Reform of Federal Sentencing for Economic Crimes The ABA Criminal Justice Section Task Force on the Reform of Federal Sentencing for Economic Crimes completed its first draft guidelines and submitted its recommendations to the U.S. Sentencing Commission for review. The recommendations address the growing concern that reliance by judges on the current Federal Sentencing Guidelines for economic crimes resulted in sentences that were too harsh, especially in cases with high losses. Racial Justice Improvement Project American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section launched the Racial Justice Improvement Project (RJIP) with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The RJIP is designed to identify and reform policies and practices that produce racial disparities in local criminal justice systems across the country. ABA Criminal Justice Section - 1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 4th Floor - Washington, DC 20036 Phone 202-662-1500 - Fax 202-662-1501 - crimjustice@americanbar.org - americanbar.org/crimjust