SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 14 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network — In a unanimous decision, the American Bar Association House of Delegates, the ABA’s 546-member policy- making body, during the association’s Midyear Meeting in Salt Lake City today
adopted a set of principles designed to improve jurors’ experiences while
serving.
In approving Recommendation 301, the association voted to urge Congress to
take steps to assure that federal sentencing practices are effective, fair and
just, and to meet the goals in the Sentencing Reform Act.
The House also approved Recommendation 104, opposing any government
actions and policies that would interfere with patients’ abilities to receive
from health care providers all relevant and necessary information they need to
make fully informed health care decisions and information with respect to
access to medically appropriate care. The resolution is intended to prevent
government interference that would undermine longstanding principles of
informed consent, and is intended to insure patients receive complete,
accurate, unbiased and timely information about their treatment options.
The resolution does not require health care providers to offer or endorse
any particular medical service; or to offer information about alternative or
experimental treatments that do not meet the medical standard of care.
The House of Delegates adopted Recommendation 102, supporting change in
U.S. law to award a patent to the first inventor to file an application for a
patent, to reduce uncertainty and unpredictability in the U.S. patent system.
Other policies adopted at this meeting include Recommendation 108A, urging
jurisdictions to adopt statutes to compensate people who have been convicted
and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit; Recommendation 108B, calling
for measures ensuring that no prosecution is based solely on uncorroborated
jailhouse informant testimony; and 108C, urging governments to establish
standards for defense counsel in serious non-capital criminal cases.
For a list of all policies adopted, copies or other information, contact
the ABA Division for Media Relations and Communication Services at
312/988-6171 or 202/662-1090.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the
largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the
national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the
administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in
their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and
works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the
rule of law in a democratic society.
