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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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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.
Native American Families and Winner School District Announce Settlement in Case Alleging Discrimination (06/18/2007)
WINNER, SD - The Winner/Ideal Native American community and the Winner School District announced today that an agreement has been reached to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of Native American students attending Winner schools.
ACLU Praises Senate Judiciary Committee Vote on Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (06/14/2007)
Washington - The American Civil Liberties Union praised the Senate Judiciary Committee today for passing S. 535, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act out of committee. Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee passed the companion bill, H.R. 923.
ACLU Releases Scathing Analysis of Government’s Report to UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (06/13/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today released a scathing preliminary analysis of a recent government report to a United Nations committee about the state of racial discrimination in the United States. The report was submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva.
NYCLU Calls On NYPD To Investigate Mass Arrest Of Brooklyn Youth (06/08/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union today called on the New York Police Department to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent arrest of nearly three dozen students walking to the funeral of a friend. The mass arrests reflect an overly aggressive approach to perceived gang association and raise concerns about racial profiling, NYCLU said.
ACLU of Virginia Asks Prison to Rescind Racially Discriminatory Hairstyle Policy (05/25/2007)
HAYNESVILLE, VA – The ACLU of Virginia today asked the warden at Haynesville Correctional Center in Richmond County to immediately rescind a recently implemented hair policy that appears to discriminate against African-American employees.
Department of Justice Joins ACLU of Virginia in Filing Lawsuit against Nightspot with Racially Discriminatory Policy (05/24/2007)
VIRGINIA BEACH — The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Barry Davis, owner of the Kokoamos Island Bar, Grill and Yacht Club, charging that the Virginia Beach nightspot discriminates against African-Americans by banning patrons who wear braids, twists, cornrows, or dreadlocks.
ACLU Shares Findings of Two-Week Investigation of Girls in Texas Juvenile Justice System (05/24/2007)
AUSTIN, TX - As part of ongoing efforts to reform and restructure Texas’s juvenile justice system, today the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project released a preliminary report, A Blueprint for Meeting the Needs of Girls in TYC Custody. On Tuesday the ACLU briefed Texas Youth Commission (TYC) Conservator Jay Kimbrough, Acting Executive Director Ed Owens and new Chief Ombudsman Will Harrell on findings and recommendations in the report that resulted from a two-week investigation of all TYC detention facilities that house girls. The report was presented yesterday to key legislative staffers.
Department of Justice Statistics Show Clear Pattern of Racial Profiling (04/29/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union said today that a newly released Department of Justice report on racial profiling shows an alarming racial disparity in the rate at which motorists are searched by local law enforcement.
U.S. Sentencing Commission Issues New Recommendations on Federal Sentencing Guidelines (04/28/2007)
Washington - In a public hearing Friday evening, the United States Sentencing Commission voted to amend the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for federal crack cocaine offenses. Distributing just five grams of crack for example, carries a minimum five-year federal prison sentence, while distributing 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same sentence.
Groups Launch Campaign to Ensure That Ohio Youth Have Access to Lawyers (04/18/2007)
COLUMBUS, OH - As the Supreme Court of Ohio today heard arguments on protecting children’s right to counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, the Children’s Law Center and the Office of the Ohio Public Defender announced a statewide campaign to inform young people of their rights.
Arrest of 13-Year-Old for Writing on Desk Should Be Wake-up Call for City, NYCLU Says (04/06/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union today condemned the treatment of a 13-year-old girl who was arrested after she wrote the word "okay" on her school desk. The NYCLU said the incident sheds light on the fatal flaws in New York City's use of law enforcement to impose discipline in classrooms.
NYCLU and ACLU Report Calls for End to Over-Policing in New York City Schools (03/18/2007)
NEW YORK - The massive and aggressive police presence in public schools has transformed New York City classrooms into hostile and dysfunctional environments that are damaging to students and disempower educators, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today.
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