Annual Meeting Highlights

The Section Council welcomed Kim T. Parker as chair for 2019–2020 and thanked outgoing chair Lucian E. Dervan for his service.

The Section’s CLE programs featured many panel discussions, with a range of topics including diversion programs, public interest attorney well-being, gathering evidence abroad, a review of the Supreme Court term, internal investigations, and women in the courtroom.

The Women in Criminal Justice Task Force continued its work at the Annual. The task force hosted a listening session for women of varying backgrounds at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

The Criminal Justice Section sponsored four resolutions at the Annual Meeting of the ABA House of Delegates. Additionally, the Section cosponsored Resolution 105. The House of Delegates voted and approved the following resolutions related to criminal justice:

• 101: Urges Congress to make the ameliorative provisions of the First Step Act retroactive and urges the president and attorney general to take action to implement the provisions of the act. Adopted as revised.
• 104: Urges Congress to enact legislation to resolve the current stalemate between state and federal law over marijuana regulation and to update federal marijuana policy. Adopted.
• 105: Urges state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact statutes, rules, or regulations and judges to promulgate policies to limit the possession of firearms in courthouses and judicial centers to only those persons necessary to ensure security. Adopted.
• 114: Urges legislatures and courts to define consent in sexual assault cases as the assent of a person who is competent to give consent to engage in a specific act of sexual penetration, oral sex, or sexual contact, to provide that consent is expressed by words or action in the context of all the circumstances, and to reject any requirement that sexual assault victims have a legal burden of verbal or physical resistance. The Section withdrew its cosponsorship of this resolution prior to the vote. The House of Delegates voted to postpone indefinitely for further discussion with the Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and other entities.
• 119: Provides that any legislation and related regulations to detect and combat money laundering and terrorist financing must be consistent with the eight fundamental principles outlined in the resolution. This resolution was withdrawn for further discussion with the International Law Section and other entities.

Congratulations go to Judge Bernice Donald and Professor Sarah Redfield. Their work on implicit bias won the ABA Section Officers Conference Meritorious Service Award.

CJS Podcast

The Section launched a podcast, called The JustPod, with the purpose of creating a new and dynamic platform to support the work of the Section, to enhance the member experience, and to extend the Section’s reach of influence outside the ABA. The CJS podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. Recent episodes include:

• “How to Effect Criminal Justice Policy,” featuring Ken Goldsmith.
• “Resolutions: Annual 2019,” featuring Steve Saltzburg.
• “Task Force Ops: Pretrial Discovery Standards an Introduction,” featuring Hon. Martin Marcus and Jennifer Laurin.
• “Check-in with the Chair: Q3 2019; Passing of the Gavel,” featuring Lucian Dervan and Kim Parker.
• “Prosecutorial Discretion,” featuring Melba Pearson.
• “Supreme Court Review: October 2018 Term, Criminal Cases,” featuring Rory Little.
• “Examining the Epstein Charges—Past and Present,” featuring Ilene Jaroslaw.
• “Young Lawyers and Mentorship,” featuring Deanna Adams.
• “Mental Health Standards to Help Prepare for Testimony,” featuring Dr. Eric Drogin.
• “Task Force Ops: Investigating Plea Bargaining in America,” featuring Lucian Dervan and Thea Johnson.

New Books

Trial Tactics, Fourth Edition, by Stephen A. Saltzburg. This book is a road map for the discovery and avoidance of the many pitfalls and obstacles that must be avoided to achieve ultimate success at trial. The Fourth Edition includes chapters not available in previous editions.

The State of Criminal Justice 2019, edited by Mark E. Wojcik. This publication examines and reports on the major issues, trends, and significant changes in the criminal justice system, on topics ranging from white collar crime to international law to juvenile justice. The 2019 volume contains chapters focusing on specific aspects of the criminal justice field, with summaries of all of the adopted official ABA policies passed in 2018–2019 that address criminal justice issues.

Upcoming Events

• 34th National Institute on White Collar Crime: March 11–13, 2020, San Diego, CA
• CJS Spring Meeting: April 23–26, 2020, Kansas City, MO
• 30th National Institute on Health Care Fraud, May 11–13, 2020, Las Vegas, NV
• 2020 ABA Annual Meeting: July 30–August 2, 2020, Chicago, IL
• Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute: September 9–11, 2020, Braselton, GA
• 9th Annual London White Collar Crime Institute: October 12–13, 2020, London, UK
• Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference, December 6–8, 2020, Washington, DC

Please see the CJS website for more information on all CJS activities.