There are so many points of excellence and innovation about the programs offered at NDAA's Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center, that it is difficult to commend any one aspect. There is one program, however, that is unique in that it is NDAA’s own. It is the annual NDAA Fall Conference, which draws together prosecutors and the leading experts in a particular field, or group of related fields, to address a subject of commanding interest. Prosecutors who have attended one or more of these conferences have found them unusually rewarding.
The first such conference, in 1998, was a multi-track program, with presentations and discussions of child abuse, juvenile justice, domestic violence and stalking, DNA in sexual assault cases, impaired driving, environmental crimes, elder abuse and policy management.
The 1999 conference, titled “Moving Into the Next Century,” showcased APRI units working with prosecutors on principal issues that challenged America’s prosecutors at the dawn of the new century. Topics included stalking and cyberstalking, child abuse, impaired driving, juvenile justice, elder abuse and financial exploitation and management fundamentals.
Reflecting the expanding role of computers and high-tech equipment in prosecutors’ offices and the justice system, the theme of the 2000 fall conference was “Computers and Crime: What Prosecutors Need to Know” and featured four tracks of presentations on such subjects as cyberstalking, Internet fraud, child sexual exploitation and other crimes in which computers played a role.
In 2001, the conference focused on “The Prosecutor and the Media,” with top prosecutors and leading figures in the news media discussing an increasingly important issue that confronts every prosecutor, regardless of the size of their jurisdiction. As this conference was winding down on September 11, 2001, terrorists struck America, killing more than 3,000 persons as the airplanes they hijacked destroyed the World Trade Center twin towers and slammed into the Pentagon while the fourth hijacked plane was thwarted and crashed.
With the terrorist menace overshadowing everything else and affecting almost every aspect of life in this nation, there was little doubt what the theme of the 2002 Fall Conference would be. It was “A Call to Action: The Prosecutor’s Role in the War on Terrorism.” Government officials joined prosecutors in discussing what local prosecutors should be doing in addressing the all-encompassing threat.
This year’s conference was partly inspired by the increasing public perception, and thus the increasing interest of jury pools, in the media treatment of forensics, and particularly in popular TV crime shows like CSI and Miami: CSI. Titled “Traces of Evidence: The Policymakers’ Approach to Scientific Evidence,” the conference addressed a wide range of topics involving prosecutors’ decisions on handling scientific evidence. The outstanding list of speakers included one of the world’s top forensic anthropologists and nationally known experts on DNA, arson, lost and missing children, and dealing with the media in high-profile cases. No other conference could offer prosecutors such a varied array of recognized experts in so many fields.
Finally, a word or two about the man for whom the National Advocacy Center is named. When the concept of the advocacy center was being developed in the early 1990s, U.S. Senator Ernest F. Hollings was a principal congressional champion of the idea. Senator Hollings, known as Fritz to his friends and colleagues, was of inestimable assistance in guiding the proposal through Congress, in assuring funding and in securing a home for the center on the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. Whenever we had a problem, Senator Hollings was there for us.
Therefore, as Senator Hollings prepares to leave the Senate and conclude more than a half century of public service at the end of 2004, we thank and salute him for his contributions to the cause of prosecution and criminal justice. His name on the National Advocacy Center is visible assurance that he and his efforts will not be forgotten.
