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A new report explores racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in access to education, employment, and housing. It found that these factors relate to how likely it is someone will be incarcerated, and that lack of data collection hinders the ability to address this problem. As a result lawmakers are creating policies without fully understanding the racial, ethnic, and gender impact of their decisions.

Practical tips about interacting with police officers in California, with ''dos'' and ''don'ts'' sections about being stopped for questioning, stopped in your car, and being arrested or taken to a police station.

Practical tips about interacting with police officers in California, with ''dos'' and ''don'ts'' sections about being stopped for questioning, stopped in your car, and being arrested or taken to a police station.

Every year tens of thousands of people in California are arrested for simply possessing small amounts of marijuana. These arrests overload our already stressed courts and jails. California's Proposition 19 offers a remedy that will move marijuana policy in a direction that makes sense.

The thousands of women California sends into military service are being deprived of the fundamental right to make pregnancy decisions because federal law prohibits almost all abortion services at U.S. military hospitals. To obtain safe, legal abortion care servicewomen must sometimes travel abroad (and arrange leave) or take their chances with an unsafe, illegal, local or self-induced abortion. Congress should end the ban on private funding of abortion at military facilities. Our Armed Services women deserve more from their country.

Is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spying on Muslim communities in Berkeley, Fresno, Visalia, San Jose or other Northern California communities? We don't know. But the ACLU of Northern California is determined to find out.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian Law Caucus and the San Francisco Bay Guardian filed a lawsuit Aug. 24 against the FBI to speed the release of FBI records on the investigation and surveillance of Muslim communities in the Bay Area.

In California, we currently shackle pregnant women in jails and prisons. Excessive shackling increases the woman's risk of falling and renders her unable to break potential falls. Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign AB 1900 and end the practice of shackling pregnant inmates in California.

Through an interim policy released on August 11, 2010, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") has weighed in on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Northern California against the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the federal immigration agency concerning the County's participation in immigration enforcement. Since at least 2005 Sonoma County Sheriff and local ICE agents used something called an immigration "detainer" or "hold" to place arrestees in the County jail for four days without notice of the charges against them, and without procedural rights normally afforded to immigration detainees.

The ACLU and its affiliates in Oregon, Southern California, Northern California, and New Mexico have filed a legal challenge on behalf of ten U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who cannot fly to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the "No Fly List"—a component of the government's watch list system. None of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including a disabled veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, a U.S. Army veteran, and a U.S. Airforce veteran, have been told why they are on the list or given a meaningful chance to clear their names. Yet, they have been prevented from visiting relatives, accessing employment and educational opportunities, and—for those stranded abroad—returning home to their families, jobs, and needed medical care in the United States.

in a landmark decision on August 4, a federal judge ruled that Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that excluded same-sex couples from marriage in the state, violates the United States Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Lambda Legal filed two friend-of-the-court briefs in the case supporting the argument that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

Too many children attend California schools that are in dire need of repairs, suffering from broken bathrooms, leaky roofs, and heating and cooling systems that do not work. Fixing these problems is ultimately the State's responsibility. An ACLU settlement in 2004 established the Emergency Repair Program (ERP) to provide school districts with those funds, but in 2010 the ERP Account is empty--we need your help! Take action today.

Thirty ACLU affiliates are seeking details about the FBI's program that collects and maps sensitive information in communities with concentrated ethnic populations.

Possessing or dealing five grams of crack cocaine results in the same minimum sentence as dealing 500 grams of powder cocaine – a 100 to 1 difference in sentencing for different forms of the same drug. We are one final step away from passing major reform of this deeply flawed aspect of a dysfunctional criminal justice system. Ask your representative to support the Fair Sentencing Act.

The California affiliates of the ACLU today announced their endorsement of Proposition 19, the initiative on the November 2010 ballot that would allow state regulation of marijuana. There are two primary reasons for the ACLU's support: enforcing laws against marijuana consumes a great deal of California's law enforcement resources, and also has a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

To close the state's $20 billion budget gap, the governor has proposed slashing almost everything, but over the next 5 years, California will spend $1 billion on the death penalty. It's time for Californians to demand that we stop wasting millions on executions and cut this!

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.

Daily compilation of links to articles related to technology and civil liberties.