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Publications

As part of our work, the ACLU of Northern California issues reports, position papers and advocacy materials that study and note developments in civil liberties. Below is a listing of our publications.

Reimagining Community Safety: Sacramento County cover
Publication

Reimagining Community Safety: Sacramento County

Dec 21, 2023
This joint report from ACLU NorCal and Catalyst California (formerly Advancement Project California) highlights strategies Sacramento County leaders should make to improve community safety and reduce systemic racial inequity in the criminal legal system. An analysis of 2019 data collected under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) found that the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office ... Read More
An illustration of a woman kneeling on the left. On the right text reads, "Collusion in California's Central Valley" The Case for Ending Sheriff Entanglement with ICE
Publication

Collusion in California's Central Valley: The Case for Ending Sheriff Entanglement with ICE

Feb 09, 2022
Over the past decade, the California Legislature enacted a trio of critical laws intended to protect people from collusion between state and local law enforcement agencies and agencies engaged in immigration enforcement. Certain sheriffs and local law enforcement agencies, however, have circumvented these laws and undermined the protections envisioned for California immigrants — at times in consul... Read More
A bench is to the right with text to the left that reads "Outside the Law"
Publication

Outside the Law: The Legal War Against Unhoused People

Nov 19, 2021
The plight of people who are unhoused has reached horrific proportions in California, but instead of embarking on a resurgence of affordable housing, communities have instead instituted policies and regulations that target unhoused people by harassing, citing, segregating, banishing, and even imprisoning them. Read More
a hand holding a pen on the right and text that reads 'No Police In Schools'
Publication

No Police in Schools

Sep 23, 2021
Over the past few decades, police have become a dominant fixture in California schools. Their presence has devastating and discriminatory impacts on tens of thousands of California students. Read More
right to remain a student
Publication

The Right to Remain a Student: How CA School Policies Fail to Protect and Serve

Sep 22, 2021
A disturbing trend has emerged in California—police officers are stationed in schools and are replacing educators as disciplinarians for minor offenses and student behavior issues. Further, on-campus policing often results in over-criminalizing students—mostly low-income students of color—and pushes affected students out of the educational environment and into the school-to-prison pipeline. This i... Read More
A hand is drawing the outline of California and the words "Redistricting for Community Empowerment: A Legal How-To Guide" are written underneath
Publication

Redistricting for Community Empowerment: A Legal How-To Guide

May 27, 2021
Redistricting is the process of redrawing the district maps used by political jurisdictions to elect public officials. This process takes place every ten years following each decennial census and affects all government bodies that use district elections including the U.S. House of Representatives, state legislatures, county boards of supervisors, city councils, and school boards. This year, hundre... Read More
Cover page for ACLU of California report, "Carriers to Reproductive Justice While Detained". Below the title is an image of a woman of color holding a small child in her arms. Below this image is the ACLU of California logo.
Publication

Barriers to Reproductive Justice While Detained

Nov 17, 2020
The detention of immigrants is inherently a violation of reproductive justice, as it denies people their bodily autonomy and human rights. Barriers to Reproductive Health While Detained seeks to promote awareness of these problems among the legal and medical providers working with detained people, and to provide ready access to some of the relevant legal standards. Read More
A graphic from the cover page of our report "Failing Grade: The Status of Native American Education in Humboldt County"
Publication

Failing Grade: The Status of Native American Education in Humboldt County

Oct 27, 2020
Today, Native American students throughout California continue to face disproportionately higher rates of exclusionary discipline, chronic absenteeism, and lower academic outcomes than their nonIndigenous peers. In Humboldt County, home to nearly twenty times more Indigenous students than the statewide average, these disparities are egregious. Read More
A photograph of a white surveillance camera
Publication

Fighting Local Surveillance: a Toolkit

May 14, 2020
Together, we are achieving important victories against secret and dangerous surveillance. We are raising awareness of how surveillance technology like drones, stingrays, and facial recognition exacerbate discriminatory policing, suppress dissent, and facilitate harm to immigrants and people of color. We are building the political coalitions and power essential to win surveillance reform and durabl... Read More
Cover of the report, "Cops and No Counselors" How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff is Harming Students
Publication

Cops and No Counselors

Mar 04, 2019
Data about school counselors had been required previously, but this report provides the first state-level student-to-staff ratio comparison for these other school-based mental health personnel, along with school counselors. A key finding of the report is that schools are under-resourced and students are overcriminalized. Read More