News & Commentary

Nine local organizations have asked police departments across the state to formally adopt policies codifying the public’s right to record, without interference, the actions of police. The request, contained in a letter sent to all municipal police departments and the State Police, was made in the backdrop of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, where police have impeded individuals’ and credentialed journalists’ efforts to document the ongoing protests there.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island this week urged the Cranston City Council to look more deeply into city police department practices based on police officers' actions in a high-profile criminal case that were once described by a state judge as showing “an overall attitude of gross negligence, if not downright recklessness, in blatant disregard of the requirements of the law.”

More than twenty community organizations representing youth, nonviolence, and civil rights have urged Governor Chafee to veto legislation purportedly aimed at “criminal street gangs” that the groups say will likely target at-risk youth.

ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to the House of Representatives' approval this afternoon of legislation requiring law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for certain offenses:

According to a report released today by the ACLU, blacks in Rhode Island were arrested for marijuana possession at 2.6 times the rate of whites in 2010, and were seven times more likely to be arrested for this offense in the counties with the smallest minority populations. The report also shows that racially disparate arrest rates for marijuana possession have existed in Rhode Island throughout the ten-year period studied (2001-2010). These major disparities exist even though national studies show that blacks and whites use marijuana at roughly similar rates. ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown said today: “Enforcement of marijuana laws adversely impacts the lives of too many Rhode Islanders in too many ways. Even more disturbing is the racial impact of the enf

A federal judge yesterday refused to dismiss an ACLU lawsuit brought on behalf of an ACI inmate who was retaliated against by guards after he publicly criticized Department of Corrections’ mail policies and sought legal assistance from the ACLU (see the ruling and the report and recommendation). The pattern of harassment against inmate Jason Cook, which included strip searches, loss of his prison job, destruction of his personal property, and disciplinary time in segregation, began after Cook was quoted in a Providence Journal story criticizing a DOC policy limiting the written materials available to inmates. The policy was later rescinded.

A federal judge today approved a substantial financial settlement on behalf of the family of Hiu Lui (“Jason”) Ng, a 34-year-old Chinese detainee who died in 2008 while in the custody of immigration officials at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.

R.I. Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter today upheld the constitutionality of a state law that makes it a felony for any person required to register as a sex offender to reside within 300 feet of any school. RI ACLU volunteer attorney Katherine Godin, who brought the lawsuit, said the ACLU would appeal the ruling. Across the country, experts involved in the treatment of sex offenders, as well as victims’ rights groups, have opposed sex offender residency laws as being ineffective, counter-productive, and potentially more, rather than less, harmful to public safety. If the ruling is formally implemented pending appeal, a number of ex-offenders in Rhode Island who have not been deemed a public safety risk may likely face potential homelessness.

Adding more weight to the seriousness of the issues involved in the case, the Rhode Island Medical Society (RIMS) has joined as a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit filed earlier this week, challenging the state Department of Health (DOH) for making it more difficult for patients with debilitating medical conditions to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program.