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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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Jury Finds African American Passenger Was Unlawfully Detained at Logan Airport (12/10/2007)
BOSTON - On Friday, a Suffolk Superior Court jury found state police unlawfully detained American Civil Liberties Union attorney King Downing at Logan Airport in October 2003, and Downing agreed to a settlement of his claims against William Thomspon, the state trooper principally responsible for the unlawful detention.
NYCLU Sues NYPD for Harassing Photographers (12/06/2007)
NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) today filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department (NYPD) in federal court on behalf of a Columbia University graduate student of Indian descent who was unlawfully handcuffed and detained in July after a police officer saw him snapping photographs near a subway station in upper Manhattan.
ACLU of North Carolina Expresses Deep Concerns Over Racially Segregated Assemblies at Dillard Drive Middle School (12/05/2007)
RALEIGH – The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina (ACLU-NC) today expressed deep concerns over the segregation of students of color who were pulled out of seventh grade classes at Dillard Drive Middle School yesterday afternoon for lectures on zero tolerance, gangs, and school rules. White students were not removed from their classrooms or subjected to these lectures.
Reality Busts Through the Door of the New York Post (12/03/2007)
NEW YORK - Despite Editorial Page's Stance in Favor of Racially Biased Stop-and-Frisk Tactics, the Humiliation of One of their Reporters at the Hands of the NYPD is Too Much to Ignore
Analysis of New NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Data Reveals Dramatic Impact on Black New Yorkers (11/26/2007)
NEW YORK – A New York Civil Liberties Union analysis of recently released New York Police Department data about police stops and frisks of New Yorkers reveals the black community in New York continues to be the target of improper stops and frisks by police officers.
Flawed Report Glosses Over Racial Disparities in NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk Practices (11/20/2007)
NEW YORK – A study commissioned by the New York Police Department on racial disparities in the department’s stop-and-frisk practices does nothing to ease concerns about possible racial profiling of New Yorkers, and amplifies the need for an independent analysis of the NYPD’s tactics.
ACLU of Massachusetts Warns Boston Residents About Warrantless Searches of Their Homes (11/20/2007)
BOSTON – Citing serious concerns about the threat to civil liberties posed by the Boston Police Department’s “Safe Homes” program, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts today launched a neighborhood outreach campaign to educate people about the constitutional rights they are being asked to surrender by complying with the police program. “Safe Homes” calls on parents to allow detectives to search their private homes without a warrant.
NYCLU Sues NYPD to Force Public Release of Stop-and-Frisk Database (11/13/2007)
The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court challenging the NYPD’s refusal to disclose an electronic database detailing police stops of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, most of whom were black and Latino.
ACLU and Civil Rights Lawyers Renew Effort to Desegregate Hartford Schools (11/06/2007)
HARTFORD – Before a Connecticut Superior Court today, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Connecticut and cooperating attorneys will argue that the state of Connecticut must honor its legal obligations to desegregate Hartford’s public schools.
Rhode Island ACLU Report Finds Police Departments in Violation of Racial Profiling Law (10/31/2007)
PROVIDENCE - Almost half of the police departments in Rhode Island that are required to post their police complaint forms and procedures online have failed to do so, according to a report released today by the Rhode Island ACLU. The requirement, contained in the Racial Profiling Prevention Act of 2004, was designed to make it easier for victims of police misconduct to file complaints with departments.
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Read the Report >>
