Archive

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) released 192 pages of records to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) in compliance with a Dec. 14, 2010 California Superior Court order. The documents, delivered on Jan. 4, reveal more damaging details about the Department's "secret mission" to acquire sodium thiopental, a controlled substance used a... Read More

A California state court ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Tuesday to produce records relating to its acquisition of sodium thiopental, a controlled substance used as part of California's lethal injection protocol for executing death row inmates. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) filed a suit Wednesday to demand records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) relating to the recent acquisition of sodium thiopental, a controlled substance used as part of California's lethal injection protocol for executing death row inmates. Read More

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) has released a study showing that despite the racial and ethnic diversity of Alameda County, jurors are being selected from pools with insufficient representation from communities of color. The disparities identified are striking: while African Americans represent approximately 18 percent of the eligible jury pool in the county, t... Read More

California voters came out in droves to support Proposition 19 this November. More than 4.1 million people voted for Prop. 19, which would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use and allow cities and counties to tax and regulate commercial sales. That's more votes than Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina garnered. Though the measure didn't pass, th... Read More

The ACLU of California sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), on Oct. 25, arguing that there would be no legal basis for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue to overturn Proposition 19 should it be approved next month by California voters, and urging the Justice Department not to change its current l... Read More

In California, we shackle pregnant women in prison.And despite widespread opposition, we will continue to do so.On Sept. 27, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have ordered county jails and prisons to stop shackling pregnant women. The bill, AB1900, required new guidelines on restraining pregnant women and would have encouraged counties to adopt these policies. It had o... Read More

Following developments in federal and state court, the Attorney General conceded that the execution scheduled to occur at 9:00 pm on September 30 cannot go forward. This came just 30 hours before the scheduled execution. Yet legal experts had predicted for weeks that the execution would not occur due to the many remaining legal challenges and uncertainties regarding the state's method of execution... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed a lawsuit in March 2006 raising a constitutional challenge to California's three-drug execution protocol. The lawsuit states that part of the three-drug regimen used to carry out executions in California acts as a chemical curtain. The drug conceals significant information, violating the First Amendment rights of the press and the public to be fully... Read More

"The Ninth Circuit got it right. We should take the time to make sure the serious issues and public concerns are addressed," said Natasha Minsker, Death Penalty Policy Director at the ACLU of Northern California. "We should also be considering the larger issue: our communities will not be any safer if Albert Brown is executed than if he were sentenced to life without possibility of parole." Read More