Media Advisory: City Council Hearing and Community Speak-Out to Highlight Problems with BPD "Safe Homes" Initiative

BOSTON -- Ronald Hampton, Executive Director of the National Black Police Association, will join advocates and community leaders on Tuesday to call for changes in the Boston Police Department's "Safe Homes" program of warrantless home searches. Hampton, who worked for over 24 years as a community police officer in Washington DC, has been leading the opposition to a similar DC police initiative.

On Tuesday, June 3, Hampton will be testifying at a 3:30 p.m. Boston City Council hearing on a "Safe Homes" resolution (Docket # 0565) sponsored by Councilor Chuck Turner:

City Council Hearing on "Safe Homes" resolution
Docket # 0565, sponsored by Councilor Chuck Turner
Tuesday, June 3, 3:30pm
Boston City Hall

Hampton will then participate in a Community Speak-Out at Freedom House in Dorchester (6-8 p.m.): "COME GET YOUR RIGHTS ON! What You Need to Know About Police Searches":

Come Get Your Rights On! What You Need to Know About Police Searches
Tuesday, June 3, 6:00-8:00pm
Freedom House
14 Crawford Street (near Grove Hall), Dorchester

In addition to discussing the "Safe Homes" initiative, the forum will focus on police searches on the street, and what can be done to make communities safe.

Participants include King Downing, National Coordinator of the ACLU's Campaign Against Racial Profiling, and Senator Dianne Wilkerson.

The Freedom House Speak-Out is being organized by the ACLU of Massachusetts and 13 advocacy and community groups. Freedom House is located at 14 Crawford Street, near Grove Hall in Dorchester.

Op-Ed: Why I'm planning to speak out against the Safe Homes initiative

Ronald E. Hampton is executive director of the National Black Police Association. He will be in Boston on June 3 to speak about the Safe Homes Initiative at a Boston City Council hearing beginning at 3:30 p.m. that day, and at a “community speak-out” at Freedom House entitled Come Get Your Rights On!: What You Need to Know about Police Searches, from 6-8 p.m.

In advance of those two events, Hampton wrote this op-ed for the Bay State Banner.

News: ACLU hits Comcast on Barry Nolan axing

Boston Herald media columnist Jessica Heslam cites ACLU criticism of Comcast's decision to fire CN8 reporter Barry Nolan in this column. Comcast fired Nolan after he criticized the decision to award an Emmy to Fox showman Bill O'Reilly.

ACLU Cuba suit hits the headlines

Reporter Terri Hallenbeck of Vermont's Burlington Free Press covered yesterday's hearing on an ACLU challenge to Bush administration restrictions on travel to Cuba in this story. Plaintiffs are challenging rules which prevent them from visiting sick or dying relatives.

The Associated Press is running similar coverage today, and Maria Sacchetti of the Boston Globe wrote another great story looking at the issue yesterday.

News: Legislature blocks voter ID plan for Lawrence

Ed Mason of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune cites ACLU opposition in this story about the demise of a plan to require showing an ID to vote.

Bill of Rights Dinner speakers in the news

Tonight's Bill of Rights Dinner features a number of headline-making speakers, including humorist Kate Clinton and Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, the author, most recently, of Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches.

Director Errol Morris has also been in the news lately for his film S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure, about the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

News Release: ACLU Honors Norma Shapiro, Wainwright Bank

Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, Humorist Kate Clinton, and Director Errol Morris to Headline 27th Annual Bill of Rights Dinner


BOSTON -- At its annual Bill of Rights Dinner on Wednesday, May 28, at Boston's Marriott Copley Place Hotel, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Massachusetts will honor Norma Shapiro with the organization's Roger Baldwin Award, and Wainwright Bank & Trust with the Beacon of Liberty Award.

Norma Shapiro serves as Legislative Director for the ACLU of Massachusetts. During her 20-year career, Shapiro's work has contributed to some of the most historic civil liberties victories in the country, including equal marriage rights, reproductive freedom, privacy rights, and fair financing of public education. The Roger Baldwin Award, which Shapiro will receive, is named for Roger Baldwin, the Massachusetts-born founder of both the ACLU of Massachusetts in 1919 and the national ACLU in 1920. Past Baldwin award recipients have included civil rights leader Rosa Parks, author Kurt Vonnegut, and New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis.

Wainwright Bank & Trust Company will receive the Beacon of Liberty Award, in recognition of its progressive social agenda on homelessness, affordable housing, HIV/AIDS rights, immigration, and gay rights. Through its lending practices, philanthropy, and advocacy, Wainwright Bank has become an important catalyst for social change here in Massachusetts. Wainwright Co-Chairman Robert A. Glassman will receive the award on behalf of the
company.

The evening will also feature prominent national speakers.

John Dean, former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon, has become one of the country’s most incisive critics of American politics as well as an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s abuse of presidential powers;

Political humorist and entertainer Kate Clinton will offer her irreverent and hilarious take on politics, culture, and much more. Winner of the Pioneer Award at the 2007 GLAAD Media Awards, Ms. Clinton is a keen social critic, bringing her unique brand of humor to critically important social justice issues;

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris will speak and present a short clip from his new documentary, "S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure," a haunting look at Abu Ghraib and the psychological scars torture leaves upon U.S. soldiers.

The ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts' annual Bill of Rights Dinner takes place this year at Boston's Marriot Copley Place Hotel beginning at 6:00 p.m. For wait-list details, please call 617-482-3170 extension 335, or email mwarde@aclum.org.

ACLU of Massachusetts board members Arnie Reisman and Jodie Silverman serve as co-chairs for the event. The dinner's host committee includes Ron Ansin & Jim Stork, Jarrett T. Barrios, Esq., Lewis Black, Roy & Joan Blount, Joshua & Amy Boger, Torrence Boone & Ted Chapin, Gary Buseck, Elyse Cherry, Sheila & Thomas Decter, Christian Draz, Ellen & Frank Fisher, Celia & Walter Gilbert, Donald W. Glazer, Esq., Barbara & Steven Grossman, Holly Gunner & Anne Chalmers, Scott Harshbarger, Esq., Paul & Patricia Hogan, Jack Hornor & Ron Skinn, Jeffrey F. Jones, Wendy Kaminer & Woody Kaplan, Justin Kaplan & Anne Bernays, Alex MacDonald & Maureen Strafford, Rachel Maddow & Susan Mikula, Kim Marrkand & Kathleen Henry, Carol Master & Sherry Mayrent, Keith Olbermann, Robert & Joan Parker, John & Kathy Roberts, Nancy Rosenblum, Richard & Anne Rosenfeld, Stephen Rosenfeld, Esq., Representative Byron Rushing, Paul & Ann Sagan, Norma & Ben Shapiro, Andrea Silbert, David & Lisa Solomon, Marc Solomon, John & Holly Thomas, Phil & Kate Villers, Ellen Wade & Maureen Brodoff, and David Wilson & Robert Compton.

For further details about the honorees, speakers, and the event, please see:

http://action.aclum.org/site/Calendar/1871110890?view=Detail&id=101201

News: Billerica teen's T-shirt didn't wear well with school

Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl of the Lowell Sun wrote this story about a Billerica teen suspended for wearing a "sexually explicit" T-shirt. Sarah Wunsch, our Staff Attorney, weighs in.

WCVB TV in Boston did a similar story, citing ACLU concerns.

Column: Youth lockup doesn't work and isn't fair

Worcester Telegram writer Clive McFarlane highlights the recent ACLU report "Locking Up Our Children" in this great, detailed column, in which he also asks some tough questions of the Worcester County DA's office.

News: Unjust detenion of youth

Chet Williamson of Worcester Magazine wrote this story about our report on pretrial juvenile lockup, asking good questions of judges to try to get to the roots of the problem.

Press Release: ACLU of Massachusetts backs suit challenging Bush Administration travel restrictions on family visits to Cuba

Three state ACLU affiliates, Center for Constitutional Rights join first challenge to increased restrictions on family visits announced in 2004

BOSTON, MIAMI and MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Decrying the Bush Administration’s attack on families, American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Massachusetts, Florida, and Vermont, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), today filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief in Vilaseca v. Paulson, a federal lawsuit in Vermont against the Treasury Department, challenging severe restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on travel to visit close family members in Cuba.

The lawsuit is the first challenge to the U.S. government's increased restrictions on visits to family members which were announced in 2004. They are being challenged now by four individuals who have current urgent needs to visit with elderly or ill relatives. The regulations prohibit Americans from visiting close family members in Cuba more than once every three years, even in emergency humanitarian situations. Previously, Cuban-Americans could visit family every year or even more frequently in emergencies. For the first time, the regulations also prevent Americans from visiting aunts, uncles or cousins at all. Anyone who violates the rules could face fines of up to $1 million and up to ten years in jail.

"Shame on the Bush Administration," said Sarah Wunsch, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts. "It apparently has no compassion for the need of families to gather together in times of death, illness, weddings, and births. Our government is playing politics with one of the most personal needs of human beings, to maintain their family relationships," said Wunsch.

According to John Reinstein, Legal Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, "these regulations gut the previous humanitarian rules allowing for close family visits and visits to Cuba in case of family emergencies." With major assistance from the national law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, the ACLU argues that the due process right to preserve family relationships is deeply rooted in the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Further, the brief points to international human rights law that confirms that the preservation of family relationships is "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty."

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of four individuals, Armando Vilaseca, Yurisleidis Leyva Mora, Jared Kingsbury Carter, and Maricel Lucero Keniston, all of whom reside in Vermont. The parties are asking the court to enter an injunction requiring the Government to cease enforcement of the "Family Visit Regulations" and allow Vilaseca and other Cuban-Americans to resume annual and humanitarian travel to Cuba for family reasons.

The lawyers on the brief are James L. Messenger, Malick W. Ghachem, Okey Onyejekwe, Wasif Qureshi and Arthur D’Andrea, all of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, which represented the groups pro bono, and Mitchell L. Pearl, of Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP in Burlington, Vt.; Randall Marshall, ACLU of Florida Legal Director; John Reinstein and Sarah Wunsch, ACLU of Massachusetts; and Darius Charney, Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City.

Download the original lawsuit at: http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/vilaseca.pdf

Press Release: ACLU Report Exposes Unjust Detention Of Youth

Pre-Trial Juvenile Lockup In Massachusetts Disproportionately Impacts Youth Of Color

BOSTON - A widespread practice in Massachusetts of locking up youth accused of minor offenses and who pose little or no danger to their communities is unfair, threatens public safety and wastes public money, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Program and the ACLU of Massachusetts.

The report, entitled "Locking Up Our Children: The Secure Detention Of Massachusetts Youth After Arraignment And Before Adjudication," documents the use of detention by state judges as a rehabilitative tool to frighten youth never convicted of wrongdoing. The report also addresses the woeful lack of placement availability in the state's child welfare and mental health systems that leave detention as the only viable option for youth who cannot safely be returned to their homes.

"Massachusetts is simply locking up too many kids charged with delinquent behavior before a formal determination of their guilt or innocence," said Robin Dahlberg, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Project and the principal author of the report. "Thousands of youth who are neither flight risks nor dangers to their communities are detained while they await trial. This only exacerbates any existing behavioral problems or educational difficulties and is a significant and wasted expense to taxpayers."

According to the report, Massachusetts detains a higher percentage of youth pre-trial than 33 other states. The Commonwealth detains 5,000 to 6,000 youth in secure facilities each year, many of whom do not appear to be high-risk. Last year, 78 percent of them were charged with misdemeanors or low-level felonies, and more than 80 percent of them were eventually released back into their communities after spending an average of 25 days in lockup awaiting arraignment.

Additionally, youth of color make up 60 percent of those in detention, even though they comprise only 20 percent of Massachusetts' juvenile population.

The report also concludes that the overuse of pre-trial lockup wastes taxpayer dollars. In 2006, it cost roughly $16,000 to detain a youth for 16 days in a secure lockup. By comparison, it costs taxpayers less than $1,500 to provide six to eight weeks of supervision to ensure that youth permitted to remain at home return to court.

"Far from assisting youth in dealing with the issues that may have gotten them into trouble, secure detention is one of the most accurate predictors of future criminal behavior and other problems," said Amy Reichbach, racial justice advocate with the ACLU of Massachusetts. "This approach is failing both youth and our communities."

Key communities in Massachusetts are particularly affected by the over-reliance on detention of youth. For example, youth in Worcester County are detained at a higher rate than youth in other counties: 83 percent of detained kids are charged with misdemeanors or low-level felonies. In Springfield, 40 percent of all youth arrests are for misbehaving or acting out at school. And in Holyoke, 25 percent of all kids are arrested for school-based offenses.

"Massachusetts should create effective alternatives to pre-trial lockup and reserve secure detention for the relatively small number of children who truly need it," said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. "We should invest our scarce tax dollars more wisely to keep our kids in school rather than in lockup and, in so doing, make our communities safer in the long run."

A full copy of the report can be found online at

http://www.aclu.org/crimjustice/juv/35216res20080514.html or
http://www.aclum.org/lockingupkids

Additional information about the ACLU Racial Justice Project can be found online at:
http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/index.html

Additional information about the ACLU of Massachusetts can be found online:
http://www.aclum.org

Video: Interview with "The Visitor" filmmaker

Maybe you've already seen the film The Visitor, which is playing in theaters now. The story turns on the callousness of U.S. immigration policy after 9/11, and the ACLU has done a video interview with the film's creator, Tom McCarthy, here.

Video: Telling off the Supreme Court

Everyone in our office has been talking about this video clip from Boston Legal.