Archive

An historic settlement was reached Thursday in a class action lawsuit between immigration authorities and immigrants bringing an end to the federal government’s practice of forcing detained immigrants to go through their civil immigration hearings in handcuffs, leg irons, and chains. Read More

Sheriff Lee Baca stunned the public this week by announcing that he will immediately retire as the head of Los Angeles County jails. His announcement marks another milestone in the ACLU's campaign to end the culture of rampant deputy-on-prisoner violence that has plagued the Los Angeles County jails for years. Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday unveiled his proposed budget for 2014-2015, a budget that contains some elements that would actually move California in the direction of criminal justice reform that remains so urgently needed.Expanding medical and elderly parole will continue to reduce the state prison population. The presumption of split sentencing will help ensure people are able to successfully tra... Read More

On Thursday, December 19th President Obama commuted the sentences of eight people who have been imprisoned more than 15 years on crack-cocaine charges, a move in line with his administration's attempts to ease some of the harsher drug-sentencing decisions of the past two decades. Read More

Victory: A regulation barring sex workers from receiving victim compensation was repealed last week. The "CalVCP" allows victims to heal both physically and mentally from the brutalization they endured. No person, no matter what, deserves to be raped or to be blamed for that rape. Read More

The Public Policy Institute of California today released a report 'Public Safety Realignment and Crime Rates in California.' The report shows that California can reduce its reliance on incarceration without jeopardizing public safety. Read More

Today the ACLU of Northern California’s Michael Risher will be arguing in front of an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit in Haskell v. Harris, which challenges California’s mandatory DNA collection at arrest law. “People who have never been charged with a crime shouldn’t have their DNA put in a government database,” said Michael Risher, staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. The... Read More

Over the course of 26 months, the federal government wasted over $100,000 to incarcerate this grandmother of eight with no serious or violent criminal history. Every day, U.S. Customs and Immigration is forced to fill 34,000 beds in the immigration prison system -- regardless of how many people actually warrant detention. This policy is wasteful and inhumane. Read More

Solitary confinement can eat away at someone's mind, making mental illness worse and leaving many people depressed, suicidal, hopeless or hallucinating. It's no place for individuals with mental illness. Read More

The ACLU of Northern California is saddened and troubled by the tragic shooting of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy. It is imperative that there be a robust and transparent review of this incident, including the public release of any and all findings resulting from the investigation of any law enforcement agency into this shooting. Read More