Archive

The ACLU filed lawsuits against two CA law enforcement agencies. The people deserve to know if these agencies are using StingRays without appropriate judicial authorization. Read More

If you’re black in Ferguson, you have a greater chance of being stopped, searched, arrested, cited, and abused by police. Read More

The ACLU of Southern California is extremely troubled that a confrontation with the Los Angeles Police Department has led to another avoidable loss of life on Skid Row this past Sunday. Read More

Despite criticism from the ACLU and Supervisor Joe Simitian, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a sheriff’s department request to use more than $500,000 of federal grant money to purchase a Stingray cell phone tracking system.Simitian perhaps put it best when he told Sheriff Lori Smith during Tuesday’s meeting of the supervisors that, “Just to be clear, we're being ask... Read More

After a police officer is accused of a crime and the Department of Justice decides to investigate, virtually no data is available on how many officers are convicted or dismissed of these charges – or even what crimes police were charged with in the first place. Read More

Insurmountable financial obstacles are key contributors to the rise in jail populations. For one, low-income defendants are often trapped by their inability to afford bail. Bail should not be used to punish people, and incarcerating people solely because they cannot pay for their release violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Read More

The debate over cell phone surveillance comes to the heart of Silicon Valley on Feb. 24, when the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal to purchase a Stingray. Unfortunately, the public wasn't told about it. Read More

Former director of the ACLU of Northern California's Racial Justice Project, Michelle Alexander directed and coordinated the Project’s litigation, media, lobbying, and grassroots organizing work. Read More

Less than a year after the ACLU released a pressing report on the dangerous militarization of American police, law enforcement agencies in California—including school police—continue to use military-grade equipment against the communities they are supposed to protect. Read More

The killing of Alex Nieto, and other black and brown males, such as Tamir Rice and Ezell Ford, seems all too familiar. But would Nieto and others of color still be alive if they were white? Read More