By Elizabeth Gill, ACLU of Northern California at 8:29pm
Today's decision doesn’t decide marriage for everyone. But we should take the momentum and work towards marriage in other states, like New Jersey, Maine, Washington and Maryland.
The Washington Post ran a great editorial Tuesday pointing out how schools frequently overreact to misbehaving students, and why the resulting loss in classroom time does not lead to better behavior, nor improved school safety.
The editorial references a new report on promoting positive solutions to school discipline, which found that more than 90,500 students were suspended or expelled from a Virginia school in 2010-2011. Most suspensions and expulsions resulted from minor misbehavior, such as disorderly classroom conduct or misuse of electronics. The editorial pointed out the harsh impact of such unnecessary disciplinary measures:
By Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of Northern California at 1:00pm
Yesterday the ACLU of Northern California and the National Lawyers Guild sued the Oakland Police for trampling on the constitutional rights of Occupy Oakland demonstrators.
By Linda Lye, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California at 11:13am
The Oakland Police Department oversaw the use of excessive force against Occupy Oakland demonstrators, and now the department is refusing to hand over information about what really happened.
By Michael Risher, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California at 7:48pm
The day after an enormous peaceful demonstration and the first general strike this country has seen since the 1940s, some of the focus has turned to bonfires and tear gas.
By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project at 4:20pm
Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks.
By Linda Lye, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California at 3:35pm
Picture this. In response to a peaceful anti-war protest, the Oakland Police Department uses large wooden bullets, sting ball grenades and shot-filled bean bags, as a result of which at least 58 protesters are injured. That was 2003, and unfortunately sounds eerily similar to reports of OPD's response to an Occupy Oakland demonstration Tuesday evening, in which bean bags or other projectiles appear to have been fired directly into crowds and multiple rounds of tear gas were used.
By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project at 10:59am
It's hard to open a newspaper these days without finding an article about California's myriad criminal justice troubles. From the Plata decision ordering the state to reduce the population of its prisons, to the hunger strike by prisoners protesting the conditions in the state's solitary confinement units, to the rampant abuse in L.A. County jails, California's criminal justice system is an expensive, ineffective, and inhumane embarrassment.
By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project at 5:20am
Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks.
Katrina, revisited?
A 2006 ACLU report on the horrific conditions endured by inmates at Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina was referenced in many blog posts this weekend responding to the revelation that New York City has no emergency evacuation plan for the more than 12,000 people at Rikers Island. The ACLU report was mentioned by the NPR blog The Two-Way, Gothamist, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, Colorlines and Solitary Watch among others.
