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Florida Supreme Court Reverses Itself on Death Penalty Restriction from 2016

Saying it made a “clear error” in 2016, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped a decision that gave some Death Row inmates another chance to argue that they should be shielded from execution because they have intellectual disabilities. The…
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Online Course: Intellectual Disability in Capital Cases

It is our mission to ensure that no one with intellectual disability is ever executed. We are dedicated to equipping all members of the capital defense team with the tools needed to discover, investigate, and effectively litigate intellectual…
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2020 Death is Different Seminar XXVI

February 20-21, 2020 All FACDL seminars, apart from the annual Criminal Law Certification Review seminar, are intended to: promote the excellence of, disseminate knowledge to, and provide education to, the criminal defense community.  In…
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Florida’s Flawed Baker Act Rips Thousands of Kids from School

Over the past seven years, children have been taken from public schools in Tampa Bay more than 7,500 times and temporarily placed in mental health facilities. They often leave campus handcuffed in the back of police cruisers. Some are as…
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Diversion to What? Evidence-Based Mental Health Services that Prevent Needless Incarceration

Investing in community-based mental health services provides numerous benefits, including a reduction in law enforcement intervention and incarceration. These services also promote the integration of people with mental health disabilities into…
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PD9 and GCD Host Capital Defense Conference in Orlando: Telling the Client’s Story

The Georgia Capital Defenders had scheduled a great October CLE program in Savannah captioned “Telling the Client’s Story,” but had complications which prevented them from going forward. We contacted GCD and offered to put on their program…
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Parents Say 10-Year-Old Son with Autism was Handcuffed, Put in Patrol Car

Parents of a 10-year-old boy who has autism say the child was handcuffed, put in the back of a patrol car and transported to a mental health facility after he ran from school administrators. According to a federal lawsuit filed…
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When People with Intellectual Disabilities Are Punished, Parents Pay the Price

Carol Nesteikis, 66, has never committed a crime. But for two years, from six in the evening to six in the morning the next day, she lived under de facto house arrest with her 32-year-old son, Adam. It wasn’t because she wanted to. The…
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Registration Open: Social Worker/Sentencing Advocate Conference in Seattle, Washington – September 10-13

These conferences will feature nationally recognized faculty in a mix of plenary sessions, simultaneous sessions and small group breakouts.  Participants will have the opportunity to choose sessions to best fit their individual needs.  There…
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Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Webinar for Criminal Defense Lawyers

For criminal defense lawyers of all types, clients with mental disabilities are a part of their practice. This includes the white collar criminal defense lawyer who represents an executive charged with tax evasion who functions despite a variety…