Legislation

The ACLU has long opposed the introduction of SROs to school campuses in RI, as their presence can inappropriately redefine normal adolescent behaviors into issues of criminal justice. Two pieces of legislation would address the presence of SRO’s on campuses – one positively, and one negatively.

Prompted by the re-entrance into an agreement with ICE by the Wyatt Detention Center, legislation was introduced which would have barred private prisons from operating in the state of Rhode Island entirely and limited the ability for carceral facilities in Rhode Island to cooperate with ICE.

This legislation would have placed even more stringent criminal record check requirements on Medicaid- funded personal care attendants than are currently required.

To our knowledge, Rhode Island remains the only state to still have a statute on the books which declares any person serving a life sentence in prison “civilly dead.”

We supported an important bill which would reclassify the simple possession of drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor offense.

This bill would have prohibited the questioning of a juvenile suspected of criminal activity without a parent or legal guardian present.

We opposed legislation which would have subjected an individual convicted of an animal cruelty offense to a lifetime ban on owning or exercising control over animals.

In a move that would have further prevented parents and guardians from meaningfully engaging in their student’s schooling if the parent or guardian has a criminal record, this bill would have required a federal background check before any person could volunteer or intern at a school in RI.

As the passage of legislation legalizing recreational marijuana becomes more likely in Rhode Island, it is just as critical that expansive social justice measures accompany the legalization process. One such measure would be providing for the expungement of marijuana offenses from criminal records.