News & Commentary

ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys today joined a national organization’s long-standing federal class action lawsuit that requires the Department for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) to implement systemic reforms to improve its treatment of children in its care and custody.

Black Lives Matter RI PAC and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island issued the following statement in response to Mayor Smiley’s press conference this morning outlining plans to address the use of ATVs and dirt bikes in Providence

ACLU Settles Suit Over Unlawful Assault And Arrest Of Narragansett Special Education Student

ACLU of RI Report Details “Alarming” Rates of School Suspensions of K-5 Students and “Extraordinarily High” Suspension Rates of Students Based on Race and Disability

A federal court ruled unconstitutional a state law that makes it a crime for certain sex offenders to reside within 1,000 feet of a school, finding that the statute would require individuals subject to it to guess whether they were in compliance with it.

ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys have today filed a petition in R.I. Superior Court to challenge the state’s “absurd” position that an important criminal justice reform enacted by the General Assembly in 2021 doesn’t apply to the person the law was overtly aimed to help.

The ACLU of RI today filed a complaint against the Bristol-Warren School District on behalf of a six-year-old child who, the complaint alleges, for months has not been given the free and appropriate education (FAPE) to which he is clearly entitled due to his serious special education needs.

Attorneys for the ACLU of RI have filed an amended complaint in their pending class-action lawsuit against RIPTA and UnitedHealthcare New England over an August 2021 data breach that compromised the personal and health care information of more than 20,000 current and former state employees.

The ACLU of RI and RI Legal Services have filed a formal complaint with the US Department of Education against the Providence School District for failing to provide parents of special education students documents used to determine eligibility for services and the nature of these services.