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Criminal Justice

The Bill of Rights protects us against suspicionless searches and seizures. It guarantees due process to individuals who are accused of crimes and humane treatment to those who are incarcerated. The ACLU works to ensure that our criminal justice system indeed is just.
Stop the school to prison pipeline
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Washington Needs Bail Reform: Download No Money, No Freedom
Driven to Fail: Exposing the costs & ineffectiveness of Washington's most commonly charged crime
The death penalty is arbitrary, unfair, and racially biased. The ACLU of Washington argued before the Washington Supreme Court to end it.

Resources

War on Drugs: Apparently, we've got money to burn.

Published: 
Monday, May 17, 2010
Last Thursday, the AP ran a ground-breaking piece of investigative journalism. It spelled out how U.S. taxpayers have financed a $1 trillion "War on Drugs" that, 40 years after its launch, has failed to meet any of its declared goals. That's putting it mildly.
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How to Achieve Less Crime and Less Punishment: End the War on Drugs!

Published: 
Friday, May 7, 2010
Check out this video of Alison Holcomb, ACLU-WA Drug Policy Director, debating the merits of the War on Drugs with renowned criminal justice Professor Mark Kleiman, WA Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail, King County Superior Court Judge Wesley Saint Clair, and King County Prosecutor Mark Larson.
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Attorneys Should Not Inject Racial Stereotypes in Trials, ACLU Tells Court

News Release, Published: 
Friday, April 23, 2010
The ACLU of Washington has filed an amicus brief urging the court to condemn the attorney’s conduct in State v. Kevin Monday in which a King County prosecutor made appeals to racial prejudice in a criminal jury trial.
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Appeals Court Finds Pervasive Racism in State’s Criminal Justice System

News Release, Published: 
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ground-breaking ruling that pervasive racial discrimination in the state’s criminal justice system results in minorities with felony convictions disproportionately being prevented from voting, violating the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.  
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Seattle: Testimony of Julya Hampton on Police Accountability and the Collective Barganing Process

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The April 18, 2006 testimony of the ACLU legal program director before the Public Safety, Governmental Relations and Arts Committee of the Seattle City Council.
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Racist Comments by Jurors Undermined Right to Fair Trial

News Release, Published: 
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Jurors’ derogatory comments about the Japanese ethnicity of an attorney indicated racial bias that undermined a man’s right to a fair trial. The ACLU-WA is urging the Washington Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court ruling that ordered a new trial.
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Ruling Aims to Ensure Jury Selection Is Free of Racial Discrimination

News Release, Published: 
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that the government must provide a race-neutral explanation whenever the last minority member is struck from a jury panel. The ACLU-WA had urged the court to adopt such a bright line rule.
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Reforming the “Three Strikes” Law

News Release, Published: 
Monday, December 7, 2009
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Grant County Overhauls Defense System in Settlement of Lawsuit

News Release, Published: 
Friday, December 4, 2009
The ACLU filed a suit in 2004, challenging the constitutionality of the indigent public defense system in Grant County. The suit argued that public defenders were underfunded, overworked and lacked independence, depriving indigent defendants of effective assistance of counsel.
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Lawyer Selected to Monitor Grant County Public Defense System

News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Seattle attorney Jeffery Robinson has been selected to monitor Grant County’s compliance with terms of a settlement agreement to improve the County’s public defender system.
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