News & Commentary

Frustrated by the release of annual reports that minimize racial profiling patterns, three civil rights groups issued a letter urging significant amendments to the state law requiring the data analysis and reports.

The ACLU has issued a report calling for the decriminalization of sex work, relying in part on evidence from a period of time in RI when indoor sex work was technically legal in the state.

The ACLU of RI has issued a statement in response to the release of a report by the Providence External Review Authority investigating an assault charge against Sgt. Joseph Hanley.

At a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has prompted demands for more police accountability, the RI Attorney General’s office has issued an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) opinion which makes it more difficult for the public to monitor allegations of police misconduct.

Groups urged the passage of a budget provision to extend reimbursement funding currently available for School Resource Officers to mental and behavioral health support professionals.

In a letter to Police Chief Hugh Clements, Jr., the ACLU of RI sharply criticized the Providence Police for filing felony charges against three Rhode Islanders who allegedly threw white paint at a boarded-up statue in the Elmwood section of the city.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today blasted the City of Providence’s continuing implementation of a weeklong State of Emergency and nighttime curfew for city residents and called for its immediate repeal after learning that city licensing officials advised local restaurants that they remain

Below is the ACLU of Rhode Island's statement in response to the adoption today of curfew orders by the cities of Cranston, Providence and Warwick:

As conflict over race-based discriminatory police practices permeates the country, ACLU of RI cooperating attorneys Shannah Kurland and Lynette Labinger today filed suit in federal court over a Pawtucket School Resource Officer’s (SRO) gratuitous and unlawful handcuffing and arrest last year of Tre’sur Johnson, a 13-year-old African-American honors student at Goff Middle School. The suit alleges that the defendants’ treatment of her violated numerous constitutional and statutory rights, including her right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.