Every criminal conviction carries consequences beyond the sentence - and for noncitizen defendants, those consequences can be permanent removal from the country. For any defendant, a guilty plea may cost a professional license, a firearm right, a housing subsidy, or the ability to vote. Yet most criminal-defense practitioners receive no systematic training in this area, and most defendants learn of these consequences only after it is too late to undo the damage.
Volume XIII of The Delaware Criminal Defense Library closes that gap. Written for the Delaware practitioner representing noncitizen clients, for the defense lawyer advising any defendant about collateral consequences, and for the informed self-represented defendant who needs to understand what is truly at stake, this volume provides a complete, current, and detailed analysis of the immigration and collateral-consequence landscape.
The volume covers every major ground of removability and inadmissibility under federal immigration law, explains the landmark Padilla v. Kentucky duty and its practical implications for plea negotiation, and walks step by step through the strategies - plea structuring, the categorical approach, divisible-statute analysis, and alternative charges - that an immigration-aware defense lawyer must master. Relief from removal - cancellation, asylum, withholding, Convention Against Torture protection, and the full range of waivers - is covered in depth.
Beyond immigration, the volume addresses the full spectrum of collateral consequences that follow any conviction in Delaware and in other jurisdictions: employment bars and background-check law, professional licensing consequences, public benefits and housing eligibility, voting rights and civic disabilities, sex-offense registration as a collateral consequence in multi-jurisdictional cases, and firearms disabilities under federal and state law.
The volume includes a Delaware Practitioner's Reader covering Third Circuit immigration decisions, Delaware Superior Court and Family Court practice, and the interaction between state plea practice and federal immigration law. A full Case-Law Reporter covering Padilla, the categorical approach, and relief doctrines is included, as are worked case studies, a Q&A section written for defendants and their families, filings and forms guidance, and a comprehensive A-to-Z Defense Compendium.
All eleven appendices - glossary, statutes table, cases table, quick-reference deadlines, checklists, decision trees, 15-volume series catalog, cross-reference map, consequences index, publisher information, and the Defense Finder A-Z - are fully populated. A comprehensive subject index closes the volume.
This is Volume XIII of a fifteen-volume library. Each volume stands alone; together they constitute a complete criminal-defense resource for Delaware practitioners, advocates, and informed defendants.
Published by The Legal Advocacy Network Press. Sponsored by The Legal Advocacy Network for Delaware (LAND). Contact: [email protected].
