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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 Calls Voinovich-DeWine Racial Profiling Bill A Small Gesture, Not Legislative Solution (04/11/2002)
"The legislation is a small gesture. It concedes that racial profiling is unconstitutional and ineffective , but does little to end it," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Concrete and bold solutions are required to stop this shameful practice."
ACLU of Ohio Praises Settlement in Landmark Police Abuse Case as "Best in the Nation" (04/09/2002)
CINCINNATI--The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today announced a settlement agreement in its landmark racial profiling and police practices class action lawsuit against Cincinnati, calling it a national model for police-community relations.
ACLU of Southern California Launches Latina Rights Project (03/08/2002)
LOS ANGELES -- Using International Women's Day as a symbolic backdrop, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced the launch of its Latina Rights Project as a response to shifting demographics and the dearth in the amount of legal supports available to minority communities.
ACLU Sues Rhode Island Police Department for Failing to Comply with State's Racial Profiling Law (03/04/2002)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today filed a lawsuit against the Woonsocket Police Department for failing to comply with the state's so-called "Driving While Black or Brown" law.
ACLU Warns Airline Passenger Profiling Ineffective, Discriminatory; Launches Web Complaint Form (02/27/2002)
WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today told a House subcommittee that airline passenger profiling would be a dangerously ineffective, invasive and potentially discriminatory practice and announced that it is launching a web-based complaint form to track and document profiling abuses.
ACLU Launches National Racial Profiling Book Tour With Focus on Post-Sept. 11 Issues (02/19/2002)
NEW YORK -- A 13-city book tour co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union launches here tomorrow with a panel discussion on the racial, ethnic and religious profiling of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians, groups that until Sept. 11 were not traditionally seen as victims of racial profiling.
ACLU of Illinois Challenges Ethnic and Religious Bias in Strip Search of Muslim Woman at O'Hare International Airport (01/16/2002)
CHICAGO--An Illinois National Guardsman and three private security personnel at O'Hare International Airport engaged in an unnecessary, unjustified, illegal and degrading search of a 22-year-old United States citizen of Pakistani descent last November, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal district court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
With Highway Shooting Case Settled, ACLU of NJ Calls Upon State to Make Amends in Racial Profiling (01/15/2002)
NEWARK, NJ--Despite settling the highway shooting case that brought racial profiling to the nation's attention -- and an admission by state troopers that they had been directed to profile -- New Jersey officials have yet to make restitution to all victims of the state-sponsored practice, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey said today.
ACLU of NJ Expresses Concerns Over Reported Plea Bargain in Police Highway Shooting Case (01/11/2002)
NEWARK, NJ--The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today expressed concern that the reported plea bargain for state troopers John Hogan and James Kenna may represent another instance in which New Jersey is refusing to hold police officers responsible for excessive use of force.
Court Says ACLU NJ Racial Profiling Case Can Include Claims that Officials Acted with "Deliberate Indifference" to Discrimination (01/10/2002)
CAMDEN, NJ--The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today scored a significant victory in its legal efforts to end racial profiling when a court refused to dismiss a claim that state officials acted with deliberate indifference to evidence of discrimination against minority motorists.
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