Defense Lawyers Understand the Harms of Criminalization

DSW attended the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ (NACDL’s) 2019 Defending Sex Crimes Seminar, an annual event that brings together defense attorneys and criminal justice reform advocates. NACDL is an opportunity for experts to exchange knowledge around protecting the rights of defendants and promoting a more equitable justice process.

This year’s seminar, “Zealous Advocacy in Sexual Assault & Child Victims Cases,” covered topics such as alcohol and memory, campus sex cases, DNA, false confessions, issues with juveniles in sex cases, and the psychology of the jury, among others. Melissa Broudo and Kaytlin Bailey of DSW got a warm reception at the conference. They enjoyed talking to compassionate litigators with decades of experience working on legal issues related to sex and crime.

DSW’s booth illustrated the disastrous consequences of conflating consensual adult sex work with trafficking; the former should be decriminalized, and the latter should not. Defense attorneys visiting the booth expressed nearly unanimous support of DSW’s work.