Home : Criminal Justice

IL Rights Groups Ask Cook County to Approve Funds to Ensure Fairness for Defense of Poor (11/13/2000)
CHICAGO--Citing the need to insure fairness and equality in the Cook County justice system, three Chicago-based organizations appeared at a hearing today to ask the county board to approve funds that would ease a growing backlog of appeals cases.

ACLU Sharply Criticizes Customs Service Effort to Open Mail Without Warrant (10/18/2000)
WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today sharply criticized a last-minute attempted power grab by the U.S. Customs Service, which is seeking legislative authority to open mail going out of the country without a warrant. 

ACLU Says Government Stacked Deck in Selection of Team to Review "Carnivore" Cyber-tapping System (10/04/2000)
WASHINGTON--The American Civil Liberties Union today sharply criticized the Federal government's selection of academic experts to review a sophisticated FBI Internet surveillance tool known as Carnivore, saying that many of them have ties to the federal law enforcement agencies and the White House.

DNA Tests Clear Two of Rape (09/30/2000)
HOUSTON, TX -- DNA evidence has cleared two wrongly convicted men, the Houston Chronicle reported.

ACLU Says Moratorium, Not 'More Study' Needed to Address Bias in Federal Death Penalty Sentencing (09/13/2000)
WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice's findings from its review of the federal death penalty confirms what the American Civil Liberties Union and other death penalty opponents have long known: that there is serious bias in the application of the death penalty at the federal level.

Citing Strictures, Universities Decline to Review FBI's 'Carnivore' System (09/06/2000)
ATLANTA -- Academic institutions will likely pass up the chance to audit the federal government's Internet monitoring system, citing strict controls that would prevent an independent review, researchers said Wednesday, according to CNN.com news.

In Lawsuit, ACLU Says CA's Juvenile Justice Initiative Limits Court Powers (08/31/2000)
SAN FRANCISCO -- In legal papers filed today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said that Proposition 21 -- the state's Juvenile Crime Initiative -- is unconstitutional because it limits the courts discretion to determine whether a case should be heard in juvenile or criminal court.

ACLU Settles Challenge to Illegal Police Search Of Warwick Family's Home (08/21/2000)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today announced the favorable settlement of a 1999 lawsuit challenging the violation of a family's Fourth Amendment rights when Warwick police broke into their house without a warrant late one night to arrest their 20-year-old son for alleged underage drinking.

Reno Plans Study of FBI's "Carnivore" (08/10/2000)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department plans to hire a major university to analyze the FBI's ``Carnivore'' e-mail surveillance system, but civil libertarians said such a review can't answer all the questions about the system, the Associated Press reported.

ACLU Condemns New Beer Keg Rules in Ohio As Assault on Privacy, Due Process Rights (08/09/2000)
CLEVELAND, OH -- A new state liquor policy into requiring a five-day advance purchase for beer keg sales and forcing consumers buying keg beer to allow police to search their homes is an unnecessary and intrusive attack on consumers' privacy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said today.

Ohio Cracks Down on Keg Parties (08/07/2000)
COLUMBUS, OH -- When Shane McClintock and his six college buddies hold beer parties this year, they will face new state rules as Ohio joins other states in tracking the potential for trouble spots, the Associated Press reported.

ACLU Calls on Congress to Address Broad Issues Affecting Fairness of Death Penalty (07/25/2000)
Although the situation that Congress addressed today is remote at best -- there has never been a case of a pregnant prisoner facing execution -- today's vote lays the groundwork for Congress to address the more disturbing issues raised by capital punishment. 

ACLU Challenges Invasive Home Searches Of Welfare Recipients in San Diego Area (07/24/2000)
SAN DIEGO, CA -- The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights advocates today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of welfare applicants and recipients who have been subject to unannounced and highly invasive searches of their homes as a condition to receiving government aid.