Criminal Justice Section
New Policy Initiatives and News
The final versions of each recommendation and audio recordings of the presentations and discussion are linked below.
104C Urges federal, state, local and terrortial governments to enact effective legislation, policies and procedures to ban law enforcement's use of racial or ethnic characteristics not justified by specific and articulable facts suggesting that an individual may be engaged in criminal behavior. Final Version/ Audio
104D Urges federal, state, local, and terroritial trial judges to give a cross-racial identification jury instruction where appropriate to guard against the enhanced risk of eyewitness misidentification. Final Version/ Audio
How Policy is Enacted
The policy-making body of the American Bar Association, the ABA House of Delegates, meets twice a year to vote on policy recommendations that are before it. Once a recommendation has passed the House, or in limited circumstances when the recommendation is approved by the ABA Board of Governors, the recommendation becomes official Association policy, enabling lobbying efforts and the creation of programs designed to implement the policy. Sections, Divisions, Forums, and other outside organizations all submit recommendations for consideration.
In the Criminal Justice Section, policy initiatives are generally formulated at the Committee or Task Force level. A background report is generated supporting the recommendation, and generally details the issues addressed, and solutions proposed. Once the recommendation has been approved by a majority of the committee, it is submitted to the Section's Council, along with the background report, for consideration. The Council debates the issues presented by the recommendation and either approves the measure, rejects the proposal, or tables the issue for further discussion and sends the material back to the originating committee for additional work.
Once a recommendation has received approval from the Section Council, it is then submitted to the House of Delegates under the Section's name. The background report is also submitted, although only the actual language of the recommendation becomes policy, should it pass in the House. Again, status as official ABA policy enables Section leadership to lobby on, speak with the media about, and try to further the particular policy.
