ACLU-NJ News - Criminal Justice

ACLU-NJ Celebrates 50 Years on the Front Lines of Freedom

Eric McKinley — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:00:00 PDT

Newark, N.J. - For five decades, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has been a gale force in the most critical social debates of our time and a vigilant guardian of civil rights for all.

In June, the ACLU-NJ will mark the 50th anniversary of its founding and celebrate its standing as one of the largest and most active affiliates in the nation. Created to counter the growing pressures on civil liberties in the state, the affiliate's first official meeting took place on the night of June 16, 1960. Since its start, the affiliate, which has continued to keep its headquarters in Newark, has seen its membership multiply nearly 10-fold, from 1,600 people to more than 15,000.

"We believe that the liberties in the Bill of Rights belong to every American, to all the people in New Jersey regardless of their political beliefs, race, religion or national origin," ACLU-NJ founder and longtime President Emil Oxfeld said in the original press release announcing the formation of the state's affiliate. "We believe these freedoms must be exercised if democracy in our state is to grow and thrive."

Oxfeld went on to list issues that desperately needed attention at the time - due process, racial discrimination, the separation of church and state, and freedom from censorship - all principles the ACLU still defends daily.

"While some of the issues raised in our cases over the years seem archaic by today's standards, many haven't changed at all," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs, who has led the affiliate since 1999, including during the biggest membership spike in its history. "The law has advanced remarkably in areas like women's rights, lesbian and gay rights, and safeguarding personal privacy, but with issues like free speech, police practices and religious freedom, no fight ever stays won."

"The ACLU of New Jersey has been a leader in the crucial civil liberties battles of our time," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the national ACLU. "While each new era brings a wave of assaults on freedom, the ACLU of New Jersey responds swiftly and decisively, protecting the rights of all Garden State residents. It has proven its value on the American political landscape."

Since opening its doors and springing into action - its first official undertaking was commending the Clifton Library's stance against banning books like Lady Chatterley's Lover - the ACLU-NJ has doggedly worked for justice and equality in New Jersey.

In its first decade the ACLU-NJ took strong action following the 1967 Newark Rebellion. Staffers took to the streets in the aftermath, painstakingly cataloguing police abuses to the ACLU-NJ would refer to in its demands for reform. The New Jersey affiliate also emerged even more progressive than the national ACLU, becoming one of the first state affiliates to take a stand against the Vietnam War.

Since those early years, the ACLU-NJ has grown into one of the country's largest and most active state affiliates, with a record of milestones that has earned it a role on the national stage. Among its accomplishments, the ACLU-NJ:

Defended the rights of women in schools, from a tennis star (represented by Ruth Bader Ginsburg) who won the right to play on the high school boys' tennis team, to the Princeton student who turned its Ivy League all-male eating clubs co-ed.
Blocked a bill requiring a "one-minute period of silence" for prayer in public schools in 1983.
Defended 12 motorists who had been racially profiled on the New Jersey Turnpike in the late 1990s.
Propelled New Jersey to become the first state in the nation to grant equal standing to gay and lesbian couples jointly adopting in 1997.
Successfully challenged the state's ban on late-term abortion in 1998 and a law requiring parents to sign off on a minor's abortion in 2000.
Challenged secret detentions and organized locally, fending off attempts to chip away at individual rights following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Defeated local laws written to exclude immigrants from housing, won humane working conditions for immigrants, and helped enforce the rights of young immigrants to attend public school.
Established stronger First Amendment protections in schools and malls, as well as developments run by homeowners associations.

The ACLU-NJ is celebrating the clients, attorneys, leaders and volunteers - many involved in the cases highlighted above - who have built its legacy, from its founders to its future. The stories of these 50 Faces of Liberty can be found at the ACLU-NJ website, http://www.aclu-nj.org

"Society has changed dramatically since our founding, but we've never lost the fire that fuels the ACLU's advocacy," Jacobs added. "We can't always predict what challenges lie ahead for liberty in a changing world, but whatever they are, the ACLU stands ready to defend the fundamental rights of ordinary Americans."

The year-long commemoration will culminate November 4 at the NJ Freedom Fest: A night of laughter and liberties, hosted by comedian Jimmy Tingle and featuring faces from the ACLU past and present, to be held at the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick.

5 Former AGs Challenge Jails' Blanket Strip Searches

Eric McKinley — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:00:00 PST

NEWARK, NJ - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) today filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of five former New Jersey Attorneys General opposing the blanket strip search policies of the Burlington County Jail and Essex County Correctional Facility. The jails' policies currently require strip searches for people charged with but not convicted of minor offenses, and even when there is no reasonable suspicion that an arrestee possesses contraband.

"Strip searching every detainee is unconstitutional, it contributes little to jail security and it creates an intolerable risk of subjecting detainees to needless humiliation," said Ed Barocas, Legal Director for the ACLU-NJ. "There is no legitimate reason for these types of policies to exist."

The amicus brief , filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on behalf of former New Jersey Attorneys General Robert J. Del Tufo, Deborah T. Poritz, John J. Farmer Jr., Peter C. Harvey and Zulima V. Farber, defends the privacy and Fourth Amendment rights of Albert Florence.

Florence filed a lawsuit in 2005 charging officials at the two jails with unconstitutionally subjecting him to two strip searches despite a lack of reasonable suspicion. The searches followed his erroneous arrest during a 2005 traffic stop for a fine he had already paid. He was ordered during the searches to squat naked and, while standing in front of prison guards, to lift his genitals.

"Being forced to strip naked is humiliating, and people charged with minor crimes shouldn't be strip searched unless there's a reason to think they're hiding something," said David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project.

Consistent with legal precedent, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez ruled in February 2009 that the strip search of Florence violated the Constitution. However, officials representing both Burlington and Essex Counties appealed the decision, placing the case before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The former Attorneys General's brief notes that Judge Rodriguez's decision prevents strip searches only for non-indictable offenses that do not involve contraband and when there is no reason to suspect contraband. Additionally, his decision does not preclude strip searches following visitation.

Previous federal rulings have also banned strip searches of low-level arrestees unless jail officials can prove reasonable suspicion that the inmate may have drugs, guns or other illegal contraband. The standard of reasonable suspicion still allows prison officials to use broad discretion in determining if a strip search is necessary.

A copy of the amicus brief is available online at: http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/florence-v-board-chosen-freeholders-county-burlington-et-al-amicus-brief

Additional information about ACLU-NJ is available online at: http://www.aclu-nj.org

Additional information about the ACLU National Prison Project is available online at: http://www.aclu.org/prison

NJ Overturns Unjust Sentencing Law

Eric McKinley — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:00:00 PST

Judges will now have discretion in sentencing for non-violent offenses

TRENTON — In a landmark victory for civil rights, the New Jersey Senate today passed a bill (S1866) revising a decades-old policy that had punished people more harshly for committing non-violent drug crimes within several hundred feet of schools, unfairly targeting city dwellers. Once signed into law, individual judges will be able to use their discretion to issue fair sentences appropriate to the crimes committed.

"This legislation is smart on crime, not soft on crime. It marks a major step forward toward achieving justice in New Jersey's criminal justice system," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the ACLU-NJ. "New Jersey's judges will now have authority to sentence people based on the severity of the crime, not the location."

This legislation overturns the drug-free school zone law, which mandated lengthy sentences for any drug crime committed near a school. As a result, people in New Jersey's more densely packed areas — for example, cities like Newark, Camden, Jersey City or New Brunswick — have been subject to a stricter standard of justice than those in the suburbs. Over the course of the drug-free school zone policy, 96 percent of those arrested for drug-free school offenses in New Jersey were black or Latino.

The Assembly passed the companion legislation, A2762, last year, and will need to vote on it once again to concur with the Senate version. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will sign the bill once it reaches his desk.

This legislation promises fairness not only to New Jersey citizens relying on the criminal justice system, but to taxpayers. New Jersey's prisons and jails are dangerously overcrowded and many non-violent offenders are serving sentences much longer than needed. Judges will be able to decide the appropriate punishments, and New Jerseyans will know that everyone, everywhere across the state has a fairer shot at justice.

Changing this law has been a top priority for the ACLU-NJ over the past decade, in a broad coalition with organizations including the Coalition of Community Corrections Providers of New Jersey, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Hispanic Directors Association, Latino Leadership Alliance, New Jersey Association on Correction, Volunteers of American Delaware Valley and Women Who Never Give Up. In addition, cities like Newark and Camden have passed resolutions supporting S1866.

ACLU-NJ Holds March for Police Accountability

Eric McKinley — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:00:00 PDT

NEWARK - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey is turning the tables by setting up checkpoints of its own -- checkpoints to hold police accountable.

On October 22, in honor of International Day Against Police Brutality, the ACLU-NJ and People's Organization for Progress are holding a march through Downtown Newark with three checkpoints at sites related to police practices.

WHAT: A press conference followed by a march and rally through Newark to recognize International Day Against Police Brutality

DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

CHECKPOINT 1: Stating of Demands for Reform

4:30 p.m.
The Governor's Offices in Newark
153 Halsey Street, Newark

CHECKPOINT 2: Getting the Word Out

5:30 p.m.
Distributing Know Your Rights cards at Newark Penn Station:

What To Do If You're Stopped By The Police (English) (118k PDF)

What To Do If You're Stopped By The Police (Spanish) (69k PDF)

What To Do If You're Stopped By The Police (Portuguese) (1.3mb PDF)

CHECKPOINT 3: Vigil for Victims of Police Misconduct

6:30 p.m.
To honor the victims of police abuse and the officers committed to accountability Offices of the Brazilian Voice newspaper
412 Chestnut Street, the Ironbound

The march, a part of the ACLU-NJ's statewide police accountability campaign "Law and Disorder: Police Accountability Unit," will honor the victims of police abuse and recognize police officers committed to accountability within their departments. Different colored armbands will identify notable people.

In its police accountability campaign, the ACLU-NJ is working with police departments to create responsible police practices and training community leaders to prevent police abuse in their own neighborhoods.

New Jersey Rejects Inhumane and Ineffective Death Penalty

Eric McKinley — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:00:00 PST

Newark, NJ - The ACLU-NJ praised lawmakers today as Governor Jon Corzine signed a measure to end capital punishment in the state of New Jersey. The bill, which passed the state legislature last week with bipartisan majorities, replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole. New Jersey is the first state since 1965 to legislatively repeal the death penalty.

"The death penalty is an archaic, inhumane and ineffective practice that most nations abandoned long ago" says ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. "It has proven fundamentally unfair and discriminatory, too often resulting in the execution of innocent people."

The bill was introduced in November after the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission concluded that capital punishment does not deter crime. The Commission found that capital punishment is "inconsistent with evolving standards of decency."

In addition to lawmakers, Jacobs acknowledged the tireless work of death penalty opponents, including the remarkable leadership of the New Jersey Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and ACLU members from across New Jersey who lobbied their representatives in support of abolishment.

Gov. Corzine specifically thanked the ACLU for its dedication to this important issue. "I also want to thank advocacy groups, particularly . . . the ACLU and there are many other groups that joined in this process and I am eternally grateful," said Corzine.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment, New Jersey joins 13 states and the District of Columbia that do not use execution as a means of punishment.

"This is historic progress towards the end this cruel and futile punishment," says Jacobs. "We hope it will generate momentum in the campaign to end capital punishment nationwide."

The legislation (S171/A3716) was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), Senator Robert J. Martin (R-Morris/Passaic), Senator Shirley K. Turner (D-Mercer) and Senator Nia H. Gill (D-Essex/Passaic). It was sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Essex/Union), Assemblyman Christopher Bateman (R-Morris/Somerset), Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson (D-Bergen), Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden/Gloucester).

ACLU Challenges Placement of Women in Men's Prison

Eric McKinley — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:00:00 PST

NEWARK - In dual actions challenging the incarceration of 40 women in a men's maximum security prison, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Jersey filed a civil rights lawsuit and joined more than a dozen other advocacy organizations in support of the women at a demonstration in front of the prison.

"For over half a year these women have been subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions," said Ed Barocas, ACLU of New Jersey Legal Director. "This is yet another consequence of the over-incarceration in our state that we desperately need to address."

In March 2007, the Department of Corrections arbitrarily pulled 40 women out of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, New Jersey's only women's prison, and put them in lock-down conditions in New Jersey State Prison, the highest-security men's prison in the state. Unlike other prisoners incarcerated for similar crimes at Edna Mahan and the New Jersey State Prison, the 40 women are confined in their cells for up to 22 hours a day and denied basic movement within the prison. They are also deprived of access to the prison law library and the prison school. When given time outdoors, the women are barred from the prison's main yard and placed instead in a small pen overlooked by the men's yard, where they are subjected to catcalls and harassment. The women prisoners are also denied access to basic hygiene, including sufficient toilet paper and sanitary napkins, and cannot send their undergarments to be washed because they will be stolen by the male prisoners who do the laundry.

The ACLU's lawsuit charges, that by subjecting the women prisoners to more repressive conditions than male prisoners in the same prison, the Department of Corrections is violating the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The lawsuit also alleges that in several ways the department's treatment of the women prisoners is so atrocious that it violates the Constitution's ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

"The women prisoners are getting a raw deal just because they're women," said Mie Lewis, a staff attorney with the ACLU Women's Rights Project and lead counsel in the case. "The Department of Corrections has a moral and legal duty to provide these women with humane conditions and a chance at rehabilitation."

The ACLU has attempted since October to negotiate with the Department of Corrections for relief for the women prisoners but the department has refused even to discuss transferring the women to an appropriate custodial environment or to discuss its overall plan for women in the system.

"The failure of the state to plan for the number of women being imprisoned and ensure their health, safety and appropriate level of confinement has caused great suffering and harm," said Jean Ross, a member of the People's Organization for Progress, the group that brought the issue to the attention of the ACLU on behalf of the women prisoners.

New Jersey, like many other states, incarcerates an ever growing proportion of women with grossly inadequate planning. Between 1977 and 2004, the number of women in prison in New Jersey grew by 717 percent to a total of 1,470.

Today's demonstration was organized in partnership with the Women's Committee of the New Jersey Prison Justice Coalition, the People's Organization for Progress, National Organization for Women, American Friends Service Committee Prison Watch Project, Women Who Never Give Up, Women in Support of the Million Man March, Elizabeth Branch NAACP, Sagewriters, the Anti-Lynching Campaign, Black Cops Against Police Brutality, Redeem-Her, Doorway to Hope, the Million Women March of Essex County, United Muslim Inc. Prison Ministry, Newark Pride Alliance, the Center for Family, Community and Social Justice, and Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey.

Attorneys on the case are Lewis and Lenora Lapidus from the ACLU Women's Rights Project and Barocas from the ACLU of New Jersey.

ACLU-NJ Announces Newark Voter Protection For May 9 Elections

Eric McKinley — Mon, 01 May 2006 21:00:00 PDT

Newark, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey announced its Voter Protection hotline today for citizens who encounter difficulties exercising their right to vote in the Newark nonpartisan May election for mayor and city council. Anyone experiencing difficulty voting may call (973) 642-2084 between now and May 9 for help.

"Newark voters deserve to have a fair and open process for casting their votes," said Anne Barron, Director of the ACLU-NJ Voting Rights for All Project. "Ensuring fundamental fairness in the voting process is essential to our democracy."

The ACLU-NJ is implementing this hotline in response to calls from Newark citizens with complaints about problems attempting to register to vote or to voting in the past two elections. The hotline will be staffed with volunteers trained to assist with voters problems and lawyers will also be on call to help voters who want to challenge denials of their voting rights on the day of election.

The ACLU-NJ participated in election protection efforts in both the 2004 and 2005 general elections with a number of other state and national voting rights groups. Complaints ranged from a long-time voter whose name was missing from the poll book on Election Day 2004 to improper denials of voter registration to people with prior convictions. In addition, recently enacted changes in the absentee ballot and provisional ballot procedures may also cause confusion at the polls.

Organizers of previous election protection efforts collected and analyzed the complaints and submitted the results with recommendations for improvement to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Numerous voting problems were documented, including incomplete voter rolls, denial of language assistance, lack of sufficient provisional and emergency ballots and machine problems. The ACLU-NJ will provide a similar report and recommendations for Essex County election officials based on an analysis of the calls that come in on the hotline during the local May 9 elections.

ACLU-NJ Wins Victory In DNA Law Challenge

Eric McKinley — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:00:00 PST

Newark, NJ - The Superior Court of New Jersey in Mercer County ruled today that the State of New Jersey must limit its new DNA collection law so that it does not violate the constitutional right of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. Specifically, the State must destroy the DNA upon completion of an offender's sentence and must not disclose the information to any other government agency unless it agrees to destroy the information upon completion of the offender's sentence.

"The court's thoughtful and deliberative opinion establishes crucial restrictions upon the retention of DNA information, ensuring that the state's use of emerging technology does not eviscerate deeply-rooted privacy protections," stated Gitanjali Gutierrez of Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione, one of the ACLU-NJ cooperating attorneys who argued the case on behalf of two individuals who were subject to the law.

The ACLU-NJ represents Jamaal Allah, who pled guilty in 2002 to a non-violent drug offense and was sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as a juvenile who was 14 years old in 2002 when he was sentenced to probation for having acted out against a police officer. The juvenile has since been successfully rehabilitated, and is succeeding in school and at home.

In 2003, the State of New Jersey expanded its DNA collection law to require that anyone convicted of any crime, including juveniles, must provide a DNA sample. Previously the law covered only sexual offenders. When the law passed, the ACLU-NJ received countless inquiries from concerned citizens. The law threatens the privacy of thousands of New Jerseyans and their relatives by collecting personal and confidential information and maintaining it in a database.

The court recognized that "[t]he primary purpose of the DNA Act unquestionably is to assist law enforcement" and that, therefore, search and seizure protections apply. The court also acknowledged the lesser privacy rights of parolees, probationers and inmates, and held that the State's interest in obtaining DNA information outweighs the rights of those individuals while they remain under government supervision. Nonetheless, the court found that, once free from government supervision, the State's supervisory interest dissipates and the individual's right not to have medical and other identifying information contained in the DNA sample maintained by the government requires destruction of the sample.

The case is captioned A.A. (by his parent and guardian B.A.) and Jamal Allah. v. Attorney General of New Jersey, et al. See A.A., et al. v. Monmouth County Probation for the ACLU-NJ's legal documents filed in this case.

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging State DNA Law

Eric McKinley — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 21:00:00 PDT

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) filed a lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of the New Jersey law that requires all persons convicted of a crime, including juveniles, to have their DNA collected by the State. The suit was filed on behalf of two individuals: A.A., who was 14 years old when he was arrested and sentenced to probation in juvenile court for what amounts to a fourth-degree crime, and Jamaal Allah, who was sentenced in 2001 to five to ten years in prison for two drug-related offenses.

“The first DNA law in New Jersey was limited to sexual offenders and the arguments for its passage were linked to the specific nature of those crimes,” noted Gitanjali Guttierez who, along with Lawrence Lustberg of Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione, represents the plaintiffs as volunteer cooperating attorneys for the ACLU-NJ. “I don’t think anyone then would have believed that the State would ultimately pass a law that would require a teenager or pre-teen to have his DNA extracted, catalogued, and maintained by the government for the rest of his life because of an act of delinquency committed before the law was even in existence,” she added.

The complaint filed today in Mercer County Superior Court alleges that the DNA law violates the United States and New Jersey Constitutions’ protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and against the imposition of retroactive punishment. The ACLU-NJ is asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and to stop the Department of Corrections and the Probation Department from enforcing the law against the plaintiffs.

“Taking people’s DNA against their will is a serious privacy intrusion. Unlike fingerprints, DNA contains not only information related to one’s identity but also medical, genetic, and other private information,” stated ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs.

The lawsuit is captioned A.A., et al. v. Attorney General of New Jersey, et al.