Capital Litigation and Deterring Terrorist Activity:
Two New Training Programs at NDAA/APRI

It is my distinct honor to introduce to our nation’s prosecutors, two new programs underway at the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI). The first is a program designed to better prepare prosecutors to handle death penalty cases, and the second is an initiative aimed at prosecutors and probation/parole officers, training them to detect and deter terrorist activity.

In his State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush issued a call to improve the competency of all participants connected with state capital cases—prosecutors, the defense bar and the judiciary. Although death penalty cases are among the most complex cases prosecutors face, training specifically focusing on the needs of prosecutors in this field has been limited in the past. With support from the U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, NDAA is implementing the Capital Litigation Improvement Initiative, an opportunity to provide prosecutors with the tools, knowledge and resources to try capital cases effectively.

With the help of a working group of the nation’s top prosecutors in capital litigation, NDAA has designed a pilot initiative to train prosecutors. Jack Mallard, former chief deputy in Cobb County, GA, (now retired) and a former member of the NDAA Board of Directors, serves as senior capital litigation counsel for the project.

In October, NDAA conducted the first ever, prosecutor-oriented national capital litigation training at the Ernest F. Hollings National Advocacy Center in South Carolina. This curriculum was designed not only to train prosecutors in topics of national interest regarding capital litigation, but also to prepare experienced prosecutors to conduct a modified version of this national course in their respective states. Florida and Arkansas were selected to pilot test the curriculum and, in future years, we hope that this national training will be available in all death penalty states.

In conjunction with the national and state training curricula, NDAA has constructed a Capital Litigation Resource Center to provide prosecutors and allied professionals with up-to-date, comprehensive information and research on capital litigation. Materials collected in the center will be available upon request.

The second of NDAA/APRI’s new initiatives is a joint project with the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to implement the 9/11 Commission’s key recommendation for incorporating criminal investigations and supervision in the homeland security process on the state and local level. APRI and APPA designed a program to focus prosecutors’ and community corrections officers’ attention on “precursor” crimes and behavior patterns that may be indicators of terrorism. Examples include identity theft, driving without a license, and drug trafficking. The program will build on APRI’s previous work for the National Institute of Justice. (See Local Prosecutors Respond to Terrorism, on the NDAA/APRI Web site.)

APRI and APPA are developing a curriculum to train prosecutors and probation and parole officers to identify terrorism-related precursor crimes and build collaborative information-sharing networks between prosecutors and community corrections agencies. The coordinated efforts of prosecutors and community corrections officers may help build intelligence for the federal government by making connections between people and activities that might not otherwise be made.

Through training, NDAA’s distance learning program, publications and other products, this program will provide prosecutors with tools and knowledge for gathering intelligence about precursor crimes and behaviors; enhance local, state and federal homeland security agencies information- sharing capabilities; and allow prosecutors to share practices that have been successful in preventing and deterring terrorism and terrorist-supportive activities.

I am excited about these new, innovative programs and hope that the nation’s prosecutors find them beneficial as they continue to serve their communities.