Home : Criminal Justice

Slide Show: Survivor Stories >> Supreme Court Strikes Michigan Law The United States Supreme Court ruled that the Michigan law denying legal representation to poor people in a criminal appeal is unconstitutional. The ACLU of Michigan filed the one of a kind case after the law was passed in 1999. Under the law, an indigent criminal defendant who wished to challenge his sentence after pleading guilty was generally not entitled to appointed counsel, even for a first appeal. Michigan was the only state in the country that denied appointed counsel under these circumstances. Read more >> Ensuring Young People's Access to Counsel in Ohio The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, ACLU National, The Children’s Law Center and the Ohio Public Defender’s Office filed a petition with the Ohio Supreme Court on March 9 calling for the court to protect children’s right to counsel when they are accused of a crime. Read more >> Montana's Defense Bill Leads Trend The ACLU applauds the Montana Legislature's passage of ground breaking public defender legislation that creates a new state wide office and guarantees constitutional rights to all Montanans, not just those who can afford to pay lawyers. Read more >> The Trials of Darryl Hunt ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Reggie Shuford talks with Darryl Hunt, left, and Mark Rabil about Darryl Hunt's wrongful conviction. His case brings up questions of cross-racial eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, inexperienced defense attorneys and racial bias in death penalty cases. Learn more >> MP3 | Podcast Day of Darryl Hunt's Exoneration Feb 2004

ACLU & ACLJ Sue Holmes County After Government Unlawfully Takes Resident's Property (6/9/2009)
BONIFAY, Fla. – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) served a complaint yesterday against Holmes County on behalf of their client Daniel Stone, alleging that county officials abused their power by destroying and taking part of Stone's property in an act of retribution. The lawsuit was filed in state circuit court.

House Subcommittee Considers Bill To End Life Without Parole For Children (6/9/2009)
WASHINGTON – A key House Judiciary Subcommittee held a hearing today on a bill to help end the practice of sentencing children to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This legislation, known as H.R. 2289, the Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009, would deny funding to states that refuse to offer a parole option to juvenile offenders and authorizes state grants to improve legal representation for youths charged with life sentences. The hearing was conducted by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Over 75 Groups And Law Professors Push Congress To Eliminate 100-To-1 Crack Sentencing Disparity (4/29/2009)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union in partnership with over 75 organizations and law professors urged Congress today to completely eliminate the discriminatory sentencing disparity between offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The written statement by the crack disparity coalition was submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, for today’s hearing entitled “Restoring Fairness to Federal Sentencing: Addressing the Crack-Powder Disparity.” The coalition statement echoed the testimony from the Department of Justice in calling for congressional action to eliminate the crack disparity this year.

Civil Liberties, Civil Rights And Religious Advocates Lobby Congress To Fix Crack Law On April 28 (4/28/2009)
WASHINGTON – Advocates from the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights and religious organizations walked the halls of Congress today to push a bill that would eliminate the unjust and discriminatory 100-to-1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences under federal law. The goal of the April 28 “Crack the Disparity Lobby Day” was to urge lawmakers to co-sponsor and support H.R. 265, the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2009 introduced by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), which would equalize crack and cocaine sentencing statutes.

ACLU Files Lawsuit Charging Police And School Officials In Mississippi With Racial Discrimination And Excessive Force Against Sc (4/9/2009)
SOUTHAVEN, MS – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Mississippi today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging Southaven, Mississippi police and DeSoto County school officials with assaulting and racially discriminating against a group of schoolchildren riding home on a school bus.