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Criminal Justice Magazine

Winter 2025

Advancing the Mission of the Criminal Justice Section

Sidney Butcher

Summary

  • The CJS recently held the Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute and the London White-Collar Crime Institute, which were great opportunities to discuss current criminal justice trends and network.
  • The CJS is rebuilding infrastructure and capabilities to meet members where they are and provide content in a manner that the members want to consume.
Advancing the Mission of the Criminal Justice Section
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Greetings! My name is Sidney Butcher, and I am so honored to serve as chair of the Criminal Justice Section for the 2024–2025 bar year. I am a state trial judge in Maryland; I tell anyone that will listen that I grew up as a lawyer within this section. There are so many talented people that I have had the opportunity to listen to, observe, and watch over the years that showcased their passion and advocacy for various criminal justice issues and best practices. We have a talented staff to whom I owe a tremendous debt as they have been instrumental in assisting me to get to this point. I am also grateful to so many of our members who have assisted in my career development.

When I first joined this section, I was provided an opportunity to co-chair our membership committee. I was nervous when told to create a panel on an issue that might be relevant to new lawyers for an upcoming conference. It did not take long to understand the influence and power of our section: As soon as I started recruiting panelists on behalf of the ABA Criminal Justice Section, people jumped! It gave me a new perspective and confidence that carried over to my then day job as a prosecutor in Baltimore City. I have remained engaged ever since!

We have had a busy start to the bar year. I had the opportunity to attend the Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute and the London White-Collar Crime Institute. These institutes, like others we host, are great opportunities to discuss current criminal justice trends and network. I am so impressed by the organizers of these institutes.

We have plenty of task forces that also are working on pressing issues—specifically, our Prosecutorial and Public Defense Independence Task Forces have been doing some amazing work.

Our goal this year is to continue the work that our immediate past chair, Tina Luongo, led with our strategic visioning task force. We are rebuilding our infrastructure and capabilities so that we can meet our members where they are and provide content in a manner that our members want to consume. The lifeline of our section is our committees, and we want to reenergize our committees as we adapt to a changing landscape of criminal justice issues. We have started a series of check-in calls with our committee leaders to help and listen to their needs so they can maximize the member involvement.

If you want to get involved, join a committee and attend one of our upcoming events:

  • 40th White Collar Crime Institute, Miami,Florida; March 4–7, 2025
  • Forensics Program, Tampa, Florida; May 29–30, 2025
  • National Institute on Healthcare Fraud,Washington, DC; May 2025
  • 2025 ABA Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada; August 6–12, 2025
  • 11th Annual Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute, Braselton, Georgia; September 3–5, 2025
  • Global White Collar Crime Institute, Geneva, Switzerland; October 2025

I am very excited about the future of our section and advancing our mission. Let’s get to work!

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