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Racial Justice
Locking Up Our Children: ACLU Report on Unjust Detention of Youth in Massachusetts (5/12/2008)
A widespread practice in Massachusetts of locking up youth
accused of minor offenses and who pose little or no danger to their communities
is unfair, threatens public safety and wastes public money, according to a
report released in May 2008 by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of
Massachusetts. The report documents the
use of detention by state judges as a rehabilitative tool to frighten youth
never convicted of wrongdoing. The report also addresses the woeful lack of
placement availability in the state's child welfare and mental health systems
that leave detention as the only viable option for youth who cannot safely be
returned to their homes. Locking Up Our Children is a follow-up report to a 2003 report by the ACLU, which documented the disproportionate representation of youth of color in Massachusett's juvenile justice system.
Report: Turning a Blind Eye to Racial Discrimination in America
The government report failed to level with the international community about the U.S.'s human rights record when it comes to racial injustice. The ACLU's report details police brutality and racial profiling, voter disfranchisement and skyrocketing rates of incarceration, and wide, corrosive effects of racial discrimination.
> Report: Race & Ethnicity in America
> 12/10/2007: New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America
> 6/13/2007: ACLU Calls State Department Report a "Complete Whitewash"
Report: Persistent Racial Disparities in Federal Death Penalty (6/25/2007)
Coauthored by the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project and Racial Justice Program, this report details the persistent racial disparities in federal death penalty sentencing. Mounting evidence suggests that race continues to play a role in who lives or dies in the federal judicial system.
> Read the Report
Broken Promises: Two Years After Katrina (8/10/2006)
Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, devastating the homes and lives of millions of people. The ACLU has been inundated with reports of racial injustice and human rights violations in Louisiana and Mississippi, both during and since Katrina. Broken Promises, a comprehensive report from the ACLU, documents the terrible conditions and dangerous lack of planning at the Orleans Parish Prison, and details other increases in police abuse, racial profiling, housing discrimination, along with other civil liberties violations and the ACLU's continuing response.
Read the report and learn more>>
NYCLU and ACLU Report Calls for End to Over-Policing in New York City Schools (3/18/2007)
Criminalizing the Classroom: The Over-Policing of New York City Schools examines the origins and the consequences of the city's aggressive policing operation in schools. It provides analyses of the results of a broad student survey and profiles of individual students whose experiences illuminate the problems with policing in schools.
> Press Release
> Report
ACLU Fights to End Racial Inequity and Harshness in Cocaine Sentencing (10/26/2006)
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 established mandatory minimum sentencing policies that subject people who are low-level cocaine users to the same or harsher sentences as major dealers. The Act also established a 1-to-100 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, making the minimum sentence for 500 grams of powder cocaine - a more expensive drug primarily used by affluent whites - the same as that for just 5 grams of crack - a drug whose primary users are low-income people, many of whom are African American.
This discrepancy remains although there is no medical basis for the difference, and despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to Congress to reconsider the penalties. The ACLU is working to educate the public about these discrepancies and to change these racist and draconian drug policies. Read more at the website of the Drug Law Reform Project >>
A Blueprint for Meeting the Needs of Texas Girls in Custody
Drawing on intensive on-site research, this report describes the conditions of confinement experienced by girls in the custody of the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). In TYC's massive juvenile prisons, a harsh regime of control and punishment not only fails to rehabilitate girls, but exacerbates past trauma and inflicts additional damage on confined children.
Learn More >>
A Bond Forged in Struggle: The ACLU's Historic Alliance with African-Americans in the Quest for Racial Justice
The report recounts the ACLU's ongoing efforts seeking racial equality in America. The ACLU’s decades-long racial justice docket has included victories in many important areas, from discrimination in housing, education and access to public services, to racial profiling and prisoners’ rights. Significant progress has been made, to be sure. But after Katrina’srains subsided, no one could deny that there was still much left to be done.
> Report: A Bond Forged in Struggle: The ACLU's Historic Alliance with African-Americans in the Quest for Racial Justice |
Disproportionate Minority Confinement in Massachusetts (6/2/2003)
As of 2003, although approximately seven out of 10 children confined to Massachusetts' state facilities were youth of color, the state had never collected the data necessary to determine why this was the case. Of the $35 million the state received in from 1998-2003 for youth-related programs, less than .01% was allocated to programs specifically designed to minimize racial disparities. The ACLU documented these shortcomings and disparities in a report entitled Disproportionate Minority Confinement in Massachusetts: Failures in Assessing and Addressing Overrepresentation of Minorities in the Massachusetts' Juvenile Justice System. Since the release of this report, the ACLU has engaged in numerous forums and dialogues with government officials, law enforcement officials, community members, academics and others to address the problem of disproportionate minority contact and its impact on Massachusetts' communities of color.
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Racial Justice
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Press Releases
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ACLU of Southern California Plans to Represent Muslims and Others Targeted for New Round of FBI Questioning (07/27/2004)
LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced that it is offering free legal representation to all persons in the Southern California area who are questioned by the FBI in its latest dragnet interview program.
ACLU of Southern California Presses For Answers on Border Patrol Sweeps (07/20/2004)
LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about recent immigration raids conducted across Southern California.
Federal Judge Rules ACLU of Minnesota Racial Profiling Lawsuit Can Move Forward (07/07/2004)
ST. PAUL--A federal judge has cleared the way for a racial profiling lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota against the Drug Enforcement Administration to move forward by denying most of the government's motion to dismiss the case, the ACLU announced today.
At ACLU Membership Conference, Legal, Law Enforcement Experts See "War on Drugs" Tactic Becoming Tool in War on Terror (07/07/2004)
SAN FRANCISCO - At a plenary luncheon at the ACLU's Annual Membership Conference today, legal and law enforcement experts will examine how the government's use of racial profiling in the war on drugs has become a key tool in the war on terror - with the result that even more innocent people are now being treated as suspects based on the color of their skin rather than actual suspicion.
ACLU of Arkansas Successfully Blocks Biased Dress Code for Visitors to Public Housing Units (07/01/2004)
LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Responding to a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the city of North Little Rock decided Monday not to impose an unconstitutional dress code on visitors to public housing units that would prohibit entry to anyone wearing backward baseball caps, saggy pants or bandanas.
ACLU Washington Director Asks Democratic Committee To Include Strong Stand for Civil Liberties in Party Platform (06/19/2004)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Democratic Party Platform Committee to include strong language in its 2004 platform to protect and promote civil liberties.
Federal Judge Finds New Mexico Police Violated Legal Agreement from ACLU Racial Bias Lawsuit (06/18/2004)
SANTA FE, NM -- A federal court has found the Hobbs Police Department to be in "substantial non-compliance" with a settlement agreement stemming from a class-action civil rights lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on behalf of African American residents of Hobbs, the ACLU said today.
ACLU of New Mexico Sues State Police Officer Over Illegal Seizure of Documents (06/10/2004)
SANTA FE, NM --The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a civil rights lawsuit yesterday against New Mexico State Police Officer Mitchell Maestas for illegally confiscating the identification documents of an Española resident, Estrella Rodriguez, whom the officer believed to be an undocumented immigrant. Rodriguez is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in Española, New Mexico.
New Jersey Swim Club Owners Who Barred "Black or Brown-Skinned" Patrons to Pay $1 Million Settlement in ACLU Lawsuit (05/26/2004)
NEWARK - Owners of a swim club in suburban Nutley, New Jersey who violated state discrimination laws when they turned away "black" and "brown-skinned" customers and guests will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought against them by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the ACLU announced today.
Texas Drug Task Force Violates Rights by Engaging in Unnecessary Searches, Racial Profiling, ACLU Charges (05/19/2004)
AUSTIN, TX - The state's federally funded narcotic task forces are performing thousands of baseless searches at traffic stops and engaging in illegal racial profiling, according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
Michigan School District Takes Action to Stop Racism After Black Student Is Attacked in "KKK Game" (05/19/2004)
DETROIT - As the country focuses on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that ended government-imposed segregation in public schools, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan today announced the settlement of a complaint filed on behalf of an African American student who was the victim of racial harassment and attacked by white students in a so-called "game of KKK."
ACLU of New Mexico Joins Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Local Hockey Team (05/11/2004)
ALBUQUERQUE--The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico today announced its representation of five former employees of the New Mexico Scorpions hockey team in their pending lawsuit over hostile and discriminatory working conditions during the 2001-2002 season.
ACLU of Pennsylvania Sues York County Sheriffs Over Racial Profiling of African American State Trooper (05/04/2004)
YORK, PA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania today filed a lawsuit on behalf of an African American state trooper who was the victim of a racial profiling traffic stop by the York County Sheriff's Department.
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