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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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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."
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.
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.
Following ACLU Lawsuit, Town Officials Settle Lawsuit Over Denial of Zoning Permit to Pittsburgh Area Church (04/19/2004)
PITTSBURGH - The American Civil Liberties Union of Greater Pittsburgh today announced the settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit charging illegal race and religious discrimination in a local town's refusal to issue a zoning permit to a predominantly African-American church.
ACLU of Virginia Asks Charlottesville Police to Halt DNA Collection from African-American Males (04/12/2004)
RICHMOND, VA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today sent a letter to Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo, Jr. asking him to halt the detention of African American men ""practically at random"" in order to collect saliva samples for DNA testing as part of a police investigation.
ACLU Announces First Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellows (03/25/2004)
NEW YORK--The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the six inaugural recipients of the Ira Glasser Racial Justice Fellowship. Designed to address enduring racial inequalities, including social and economic inequalities caused by historical and current discrimination, the Fellows Program provides support for individuals whose work will advance the ACLU's longstanding commitment to racial justice.
Rhode Island Judge Dismisses "Driving While Black" Lawsuit Against Westerly Police (02/26/2004)
PROVIDENCE --A federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed two years ago against the Town of Westerly on behalf of 50-year old African-American Ashaway resident Bernard Flowers, who was stopped in his car and detained at gunpoint by town police. The ACLU had argued that Flowers was a victim of racial profiling.
ACLU Applauds Introduction of 'End Racial Profiling Act' As ACLU Releases Report on Racial Profiling (02/26/2004)
WASHINGTON -- On February 27, 2001, President Bush told a joint session of Congress that racial profiling "is wrong and we will end it in America." Three years later, members of Congress today introduced bipartisan legislation called the "End Racial Profiling Act" to finally achieve the goal ending racial bias in law enforcement.
Racial Profiling In Texas: Report Shows Significant Disparities In Stops And Searches (02/03/2004)
WASHINGTON - Six out of every seven law enforcement agencies in Texas reported searching blacks and Latinos at higher rates than Anglos following a traffic stop, according to a groundbreaking report released today.
On Eve of Holiday Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ACLU Chief Reflects on Challenges Ahead (01/19/2004)
NEW YORK -- Even though civil rights giant Dr. Martin Luther King has been gone for close to four decades, his vision and his legacy remain as vibrant and as important as during his lifetime. We at the American Civil Liberties Union work every day to live up to the promise of his work and his philosophy.
Rutgers Law School and ACLU Challenge Denial of Voting Rights in Groundbreaking Lawsuit (01/06/2004)
NEWARK -- The American Civil Liberties Union and the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers Law School today filed a groundbreaking lawsuit challenging the denial of voting rights to persons on probation or parole in New Jersey.
ACLU of Rhode Island Opposes Providence's Attempt To Avoid Liability in Racial Profiling Case (01/05/2004)
PROVIDENCE, RI -- In a brief filed before the State Supreme Court today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island challenged the Providence Police Department's efforts to avoid any financial liability for failing to comply with the state's racial profiling law and with court orders that had found the department in contempt for non-compliance with that law.
ACLU of Rhode Island Responds to City's "Action Plan" On Racial Profiling (11/25/2003)
PROVIDENCE, RI-- In response to the City of Providence's release of an "action plan" to address racial profiling, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island said today that it planned to work with legislators on the introduction of comprehensive legislation to address the issue of racial profiling statewide.
California Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Ward Connerly's Ban on Race Data Collection (10/15/2003)
SAN FRANCISCO - The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California today hailed the news that California voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 54--Ward Connerly's latest race initiative by a margin of 64 percent to 36 percent. The constitutional amendment, if passed, would have banned most agencies from collecting data on race, ethnicity and national origin, with disastrous consequences for health, education public safety and civil rights.
Latest ACLU Report Highlights Potential for New Era of Discrimination; Urges African Americans to Fight Ashcroft Terrorism Laws (09/24/2003)
WASHINGTON - Saying that the FBI's harassment of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent civil rights leaders was premised on arguments similar to those used to justify measures like the USA PATRIOT Act, the American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report urging African Americans to get more involved in the ongoing fight to keep America safe and free.
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