News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today issued a report calling on state and municipal leaders to examine policies, practices and procedures that lead to discriminatory treatment of black Rhode Islanders, from elementary school through adulthood. The ACLU report, titled “The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White,” offers a brief but systematic examination of racial disparities in Rhode Island, and how those interconnected disparities can lead to a lifetime of unequal treatment. The report, presented in a series of twelve charts, comes as the nation celebrates Black History Month, and grapples with recent events that have pushed racial disparity issues back into the forefront.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island expressed alarm today that, without any regulations governing the practice, the Providence Police Department has been videotaping peaceful demonstrations the past two years. Even more disturbingly, the videotaping has often focused on other people, including journalists, who are recording the events, rather than trying to document illegal activity, suggesting that the real purpose of the recordings is to intimidate protesters engaging in First Amendment-protected activity.

As part of an ongoing analysis of racial disparities in Rhode Island, the ACLU of Rhode Island today announced that racial disparities in searches during motor vehicle stops appear to be increasing.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has issued the following statement in response to recent events in Ferguson, Missouri: “Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri highlight the vast gap that often exists between the police and communities of color. Certain policing practices can unnecessarily antagonize communities by casting a blanket of suspicion over entire neighborhoods. These practices are responsible, at least in part, for the vast racial disparities we see in our criminal justice system. The discussion generated by Michael Brown's death must lead to constructive resolutions. In that regard, the ACLU of Rhode Island will continue to work to promote transparency and accountability in police conduct, to roll back the militarization of local police departments, and to end racial profiling in the state."

Many police departments across Rhode Island disproportionately arrest black individuals at rates that eclipse the racial disparity of arrests found in Ferguson, Missouri, newly reported data shows.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a URI graduate student who was denied summer employment this year at a fabrics company because of her status as a registered medical marijuana user.

ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown released the following the statement on the Rhode Island Traffic Stop Statistics Data Collection Study. The report includes data for all local police departments and State Police. It is available here.

Ten years after Rhode Island law began requiring police departments to post online their police complaint forms and procedures, some departments are still not in compliance with some of the law’s basic requirements, a report issued Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has found. The requirement, contained in the Racial Profiling Prevention Act of 2004, was designed to make it easier for victims of police misconduct to file complaints with departments. Over the years, some police officials have cited the rarity of complaints they receive to minimize claims about the prevalence of racial profiling or other misconduct.