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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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Senate Judiciary Committee Must Obtain Iron-Clad Commitments from Judge Mukasey before Moving Forward (10/17/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union calls on the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider the confirmation process of former U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey for Attorney General as an opportunity to address the longstanding and unresolved issues surrounding the Department of Justice. This is also the time for the committee to thoroughly examine Judge Mukasey’s record from his time on the bench.
Jena 6 Hearing a Step in the Right Direction to End School-to-Prison Pipeline (10/16/2007)
Washington, DC – The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today to examine violence in public schools in light of the Jena Six case, a move the American Civil Liberties Union hopes will inspire Congress to fix the racial disparities in the juvenile and criminal justice system exemplified by the unfair treatment of the six Louisiana students. Specifically, the ACLU hopes Congress will examine the systemic funneling of students from schools into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, known as the school to prison pipeline.
Citing History of Discrimination, ACLU of Virginia Asks Richmond City Council to Reject Appointed School Board (10/01/2007)
RICHMOND, VA— The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today is asking Richmond City Council to reject attempts by a group of local civic and business leaders to eliminate the city’s elected school board in favor of an appointed one.
ACLU Sues Maryland State Police for Withholding Public Records and Overcharging for Documents Related to "Driving While Black" Lawsuit (09/26/2007)
TOWSON, MD – Charging that the Maryland State Police (MSP) are flouting the letter and spirit of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), the American Civil Liberties Union teamed with Venable, LLP to file a lawsuit today against the MSP for improperly withholding records and imposing excessive costs for records it is producing. The case was filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court on behalf of the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches in order to force MSP to produce information and documents relating to its compliance with a federal court order in the organizations’ "Driving While Black" litigation.
Treatment of Jena Six Raises Questions of Racial Injustice (09/14/2007)
JENA, LA – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed concern about the possibility of racially-motivated unequal treatment in the Jena Six case, in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder for fighting with a white student last year in Jena, Louisiana. Although some of the charges were later reduced to aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery, one student still faces an attempted murder charge and up to 50 years in prison without suspension, probation or parole. Mychal Bell, the only member of the Jena Six to be tried so far, was convicted of aggravated battery in July and could face a 15 year prison sentence.
ACLU Demands FBI Rewrite Spying Guidelines in Light of Reports of Spying on Civil Rights Leader Coretta Scott King (08/31/2007)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today issued a call to change FBI spying guidelines after documents were released revealing that the FBI spied on Coretta Scott King, after the death of her husband Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in an attempt to stem the civil rights movement. After the government was criticized for spying on Dr. King, the FBI was prohibited from spying on Americans. But in 2002 former Attorney General John Ashcroft changed the guidelines to permit the FBI to spy on individuals in public places.
ACLU Report Exposes Ongoing Civil and Human Rights Violations on the Gulf Coast as Katrina's Second Anniversary Nears (08/20/2007)
NEW ORLEANS - The American Civil Liberties Union today released a report revealing continuing incidents of racial injustice and human rights abuses on the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina devastated the area two years ago. In its report, Broken Promises: Two Years After Katrina, the ACLU exposes numerous civil rights violations that have occurred in Louisiana and Mississippi since the storm, including reports of heightened racially motivated police activity, housing discrimination, and prisoner abuse.
ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger Wearing Arabic T-Shirt (08/09/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official and JetBlue Airways illegally discriminated against an American resident based solely on the Arabic message on his t-shirt and his ethnicity.
ACLU Sues TSA Official, JetBlue for Discriminating Against Passenger Wearing Arabic T-Shirt (08/09/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official and JetBlue Airways illegally discriminated against an American resident based solely on the Arabic message on his t-shirt and his ethnicity.
ACLU of New Jersey Files Turnpike Racial Profiling Lawsuit (07/10/2007)
NEWARK, NJ - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Willie Nevius, an African American driver who was improperly stopped by police and searched on the New Jersey Turnpike.
ACLU Expresses Mixed Feelings About Supreme Court Decision in School Desegregation Cases (06/28/2007)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union expressed both relief and concern after the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling today in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education.
House of Representatives Passes Legislation Aimed at Clearing Unsolved Civil Rights Cases (06/20/2007)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union cheered the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 923, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, by a vote of 422-2. The bill authorizes $10 million annually to establish a special federal investigator in the FBI's civil rights unit focusing on solving crimes committed before 1969. In addition, it allocates additional funds to assist local law enforcement agencies with investigating and prosecuting unsolved civil rights crimes.
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