ACLU-NJ News - Discrimination

Urban Mayors' Association Weighs in on School Funding Formula

Newark - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Seton Hall Center for Social Justice today submitted a brief on behalf of the New Jersey Urban Mayors' Association in a long-running school funding lawsuit before the New Jersey Supreme Court. The brief challenges the state's changes to its education funding formula, which now places the burden to fund education back on municipalities that cannot afford to adequately fund education on their own. The changes disproportionately harm minorities and poor families, who suffer most from these changes.

"The state is asking struggling municipalities to choose between the future of their communities and the future of their children," said Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith, President of the Urban Mayors' Association. "That is exactly the untenable choice the court sought to prohibit."

In the 1990 case Abbott v. Burke (Abbott II), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the state had failed to provide all students with a "thorough and efficient" education required by the New Jersey Constitution. Because school funding was linked to property taxes, and because many municipalities suffered from "municipal overburden," requiring them to spend a much larger percentage of their taxes on municipal services than wealthier suburban districts, municipal taxes alone could not adequately fund education in those municipalities. The Court then required the state to supplement funding in the most overburdened districts.

However, the state is now trying to change the basic funding structure that has been in place since the Abbott II decision to make overburdened municipalities pay for more education costs themselves. The brief submitted today on behalf of the Urban Mayors' Association explains that the problem of "municipal overburden" still exists just as it did when Abbott II was decided. In fact, the current high rate of home foreclosures and tax abatements in cities has made the burden worse because these circumstances affect property values and property taxes disproportionately in urban areas.

"The communities that are already the most burdened are the ones who will suffer even more from the state's changes," said Emily Goldberg of the Seton Hall Center for Social Justice. "The Abbott districts must spend significantly more than other districts on municipal services like fire and police, while at the same time their property values are lower. Residents of the Abbott districts therefore already pay higher taxes than most other residents in New Jersey."

The ACLU-NJ and Urban Mayor's brief can be found here.

From Pupils to Prisoners

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and Bethany Cares, Incorporated
invite you to attend

From Pupils to Prisoners: Examining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Featuring a viewing of the short film

The Freedom Files: School-to-Prison Pipeline

and panel discussion with

Junius Williams
Director, Abbott Leadership Institute

Patrice Davis
Director of Criminal Justice, Essex County College

Ras Baraka
Central High School Principal, former
Deputy Mayor and Councilman-at-large

Jeremiah L. Grace
ACLU-NJ Racial Justice Organizer & Moderator

James Harris
NJ NAACP President

Ron Salahuddin
Newark Deputy Mayor and former Director
Essex County Juvenile Detention Center

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
5:30 p.m. - Reception • 6:00 p.m. - Film Viewing • 6:30 p.m. - Panel Discussion

Bethany Baptist Church
275 West Market Street, Newark, New Jersey • (973) 623-8161

The "school-to-prison pipeline," is a disturbing national trend that funnels thousands of children out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice system. Many of these children have profound disadvantages such as living in poverty, having single-parent homes and having learning differences.

Free and Open to the Public

Co-sponsored by

NJ State Conference of the NAACP • People's Organization for Progress Newark Teachers Union
Newark Branch NAACP • Newark Councilwoman Dana Rone
American Friends Service Committee Prison Watch Project
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice • Second Chance Campaign of NJ

For additional information, contact:
Taquan Williams
twilliams@aclu-nj.org or (973) 642-2086

New Jersey Rejects Inhumane and Ineffective Death Penalty

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

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.

The complaint and profiles of the incarcerated women can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/stand4justice

Help Make the Death Penalty History

The death penalty is the ultimate denial of civil liberties. Over the past 30 years, over 100 wrongfully convicted people were released from death row. The legislature is expected to vote on S163 to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life without parole before the end of the year.

State officials and opinion leaders have finally acknowledged what advocates have said for years, the death penalty is a public policy disaster that is expensive, discriminatory, cruel and immoral. In January, the New Jersey Death Penalty Commission issued a report that found that the death penalty costs more than life in prison and doesn't deter crime.

New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982 but hasn't executed anyone since 1963. Currently eight people sit on New Jersey's death row. The Legislature imposed an execution moratorium in December 2005 when it formed the commission that studied the death penalty.

If approved by lawmakers and Governor Corzine, New Jersey would be the first state to legislatively abolish capital punishment since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. Capital punishment is in force in 38 states. If the measure passes, New Jersey would be the 13th state with no death penalty.

Contact your legislators and Governor Corzine today to support an end to the death penalty in New Jersey.

End the Racist "Drug Free School Zone"

Ask your legislators and Governor Corzine to support an amended version of S4573, which reduces the so-called "drug free school zone" from 1000 feet to 200 feet. The "drug free school zone" law requires a three-year sentence for those convicted of distributing or possessing with intent to sell drugs within 1,000 feet of school property or a school bus, regardless of whether minors were involved or the individuals knew they were in a school zone.

The drug free school zone law is a poster child for criminal justice policies that are costly, ineffective and racially biased. This perspective is shared by people who have studied the law from across the political spectrum.

New Jersey's Sentencing Commission members, including prosecutors and public defenders alike, concluded that the drug free school zone doesn't reduce drug crime and has a discriminatory effect because of the density of school and other drug-free zones in urban areas, where more people of color live, compared to the suburbs. In 2004, over 96 percent of all people imprisoned with school-zone violations were African-American or Latino.

We have numerous policies that cost society a lot of money, but do little to keep people safe or rehabilitate those who enter criminal justice system. The saying "Jail costs more than Yale," really gets to the heart of the matter. We need policies that are smart on crime and will make a real difference in creating a safe society.

The ACLU shares the opinion of the Sentencing Commission members that the drug free school zone does not serve us well. Contact your legislators and Governor Corzine today to support legislation to eliminate the drug free school zone, or at least reduce it to 200 feet.

Contact Information

Governor Jon Corzine

http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html

Find your legislator

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

Police Searched and Harassed African American Youths

Sean Anderson, Randy Reina,
Diamond Yorker

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today announced that the Township of Manalapan has paid $275,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the organization filed on behalf of three African American teenagers who said that officers searched them without justification and berated them while their three white friends were told to go home.

"We hope that this settlement will send a message to all towns and police forces that discrimination is not only wrong and illegal, but also very costly," said John O'Connor of Anderson, Kill & Olick, who represented the plaintiffs as volunteer attorney for the ACLU-NJ. "The evidence here indicated discrimination in searching the teenagers, disrespectful treatment of the parents' complaint and then a woefully inadequate investigation undertaken by the Manalapan Police. I'm sure this treatment does not represent the wishes of the people of Manalapan, and we would like to know what the town plans to do to prevent something like this from happening again."

"New Jersey needs to address racial discrimination in policing," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. "Incidents like this are evidence that we need greater oversight at the state and local levels."

The case stemmed from an incident on a June evening in 2003. The three plaintiffs, in sworn testimony, gave the following description of events: Diamond Yorker (then 16), Randy Reina (then 17) and Yorker's cousin, Sean Anderson (then 11), were standing with three white friends on a sidewalk that runs along Buck's Head Park Playground in Manalapan. Two police cars pulled up, apparently responding to a noise complaint elsewhere in the area.

The two white police officers singled out the two black teenagers, Yorker and Reina. One officer told Yorker to take his hands out of his pockets. Yorker asked why he had to do so, since he was doing nothing wrong, but nevertheless complied. The officer pulled Yorker over to his police car, kicked his legs apart and searched his pockets. When Reina objected, he also was pulled over and searched. Nothing illegal was found on either youth. The police asked Reina where he lived, and when he responded "Edison," the officer told him, "I don't want to see you around Manalapan anymore."

When confronted by the police, a frightened Anderson, who was 11 at the time, cried. The police responded by calling him "punk" and said, "What's your story, tough guy." During the incident, one of the officers told the three white teenagers that they could go home and said they "don't have to see this."

But the white youths stayed. In their sworn testimony, they corroborated the description of the incident related by the African American youths.

"The police harassed these kids based on their skin color," said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas. "We receive lots of complaints about discrimination, and in this case the officers' discriminatory actions were blatant and brazen."

The lawsuit also challenged the Manalapan police department's response to the formal complaint lodged by the African American parents on behalf of their children.

Accompanied by their parents, Yorker and Reina went to the police station immediately following the incident to file a complaint against the police officers. The Andersons filed a complaint within a few days. The parents said that they were treated with disrespect and racial prejudice. For example, the Yorkers' complaint was curled up into a funnel shape by a sergeant who then stuffed it in his back pocket, and while Anderson's complaint was taken, the lieutenant filled out Anderson's race as "Negro."

O'Connor described the subsequent investigation by the Manalapan Police Internal Affairs Department as inadequate. "The police officers themselves testified that interviewing all witnesses to an incident is 'Investigation 101.' Yet, the Manalapan Police closed their so-called investigation without ever even interviewing any of the white witnesses," said O'Connor. The testimony of the white youths was part of the ACLU-NJ lawsuit.

"Manalapan needs to be more careful about hiring and training their officers, since the job of the police is to protect and serve, not to harass and discriminate," said Diamond Yorker, now 20, a plaintiff in the suit.

The ACLU-NJ will dedicate its legal fees to fund the organization's Racial Justice Program, a new initiative that will focus on racial discrimination, including improper police practices.

The lawsuit was captioned Yorker, et al. v. Township of Manalapan, et al. The case was filed in Superior Court in Monmouth County and was transferred to Middlesex County (because Yorker's father worked for the Monmouth County court system). The lawsuit, filed in 2004, charged discriminatory treatment and improper searches by the police. The plaintiffs' attorneys, O'Connor, Marisa Steel, and their law firm Anderson Kill & Olick, provided their legal representation pro bono.

ACLU Fights for Release of Gulf War Vet

Warren Joseph, while
on duty in Iraq

NEWARK, N.J. — The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a habeas petition seeking the release of Warren Joseph, a Gulf War veteran and immigrant from Trinidad who is a permanent resident of the United States. Joseph has been illegally locked up for more than three years in immigration custody in a New Jersey prison.

"This is no way to treat a man who placed his life on the line for our country," said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas. "He must be released or else given a hearing where the government must justify its decision to imprison him for so long."

Joseph served in the U.S. Army for eight years, including a tour in Iraq during the first Gulf War, where he received multiple commendations. Upon his return, Joseph suffered physical and psychological symptoms similar to those experienced by other Gulf War veterans, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In 2001, he was convicted after pleading guilty to transporting or receiving firearms without a license. After cooperating fully with authorities, Joseph was sentenced to probation. He later served six months for violating his probation.

Upon his release in 2004, Joseph was taken into custody by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) pending removal proceedings and has been at Hudson County Correctional Center in South Kearny, N.J., ever since. Joseph has been detained for three years while the government has pursued his removal based on his single 2001 conviction — six times the amount of his six-month sentence for violating his probation.

"I joined the Army because I love the United States," said Joseph, who moved to the United States nearly 20 years ago and joined the Army at the age of 21. "I am very disappointed that I have been treated this way, but I still love this country. When I am released, I will do my best to see to it that this does not happen to another veteran."

Eight months ago, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals granted Joseph's petition for review, agreeing with his argument that his firearms conviction was not an "aggravated felony" that triggers mandatory removal from the United States.

In light of his war veteran status and his strong family ties in the United States, the ACLU said Joseph has a good chance of remaining in the United States either through naturalization (becoming a U.S. citizen) or cancellation of removal (which would halt his deportation). Despite this, the government has refused to release Joseph into supervised custody.

"Unfortunately, there are thousands of immigrants like Mr. Joseph who have been unlawfully detained, many for years at a time, in immigration custody across the United States," said Judy Rabinovitz, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project. "Such detention goes against the fundamental notions of due process to which citizens and non-citizens alike are entitled in this country."

Joseph has never been allowed a full hearing to decide whether his detention is lawful. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that immigrant detention violates due process unless it is reasonably related to a valid government purpose. The U.S. Supreme Court has also held that when detention is prolonged, it must be accompanied by a sufficiently strong justification. BIA and ICE have provided no such justification.

The ACLU and the ACLU-NJ filed the petition today in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. The petition calls for Joseph to be released under conditions of supervision or to have an immediate hearing where officials must prove that his detention is justified. In addition to Rabinovitz and Barocas, other attorneys in Joseph's case are ACLU Staff Attorney Amrit Singh, ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney Jeanne LoCicero, and Claudia Slovinsky and Grace Meng of the Law Offices of Claudia Slovinsky.

Case Documents

Censorship of Gay Student Is Discriminatory Free Speech Violation

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey In A Letter Sent Today (237k PDF) called on the Newark Public Schools to rescind last week's decision to censor hundreds of East Side High School yearbooks that included a photo of a male student kissing his boyfriend. The ACLU-NJ advised the school district that its censorship of this photo violates free speech and New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination.

"With so many challenges the Newark Public Schools face in educating their students, what a waste that they took the time to teach a lesson in discrimination and censorship instead of equality and free speech," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs.

At the direction of Newark Public Schools Superintendent Marion Bolden, school personnel used markers to block out the image of student Andre Jackson and his boyfriend, while allowing photos of heterosexual students kissing to remain. The photo was on a tribute page paid for by Jackson; tribute pages make up about 20 percent of the yearbook, and several others showed heterosexual couples kissing.

The ACLU-NJ called on the school district to immediately re-issue the yearbook to all students with the original photograph in place.

The ACLU-NJ's letter to Superintendent Bolden, sent by Legal Director Ed Barocas, cited numerous cases and grounds on which the schools actions could be challenged, including a recent New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that specifically addressed discrimination against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students. The court ruled that students, including LGBT students, have as much a right to be free from discrimination in their schools as adults have to be free from discrimination in the workplace. The ACLU-NJ had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in that case.

"Treating same-sex couples differently from heterosexual couples not only disregards the fundamental guarantees of the Constitution and the laws of the State of New Jersey but also sends a dangerous message to the student body," Barocas said in the letter. "The message that LGBT students are unacceptable and undeserving serves to justify peer harassment, one of the most serious concerns schools face today."

The ACLU-NJ has addressed similar issues before, including its successful defense of the free speech and equal protection rights of an 11th Grade Student at Bridgeton High School who had been disciplined for wearing a T-shirt that expressed affection for lesbians.

ACLU-NJ Tackles Racial Profiling in Turnpike Case

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Willie Nevius, an African American driver who was improperly stopped and searched on the New Jersey Turnpike.

"I felt humiliated by this experience," said Nevius, a 38-year-old man who currently resides in North Carolina. "I didn't do anything wrong, and there was nothing wrong with my car, so the police stopped me for only one reason: I am a black man."

As explained in the ACLU-NJ complaint, on the afternoon of December 9, 2006, Nevius was driving south on the New Jersey Turnpike from Middlesex County in his work van when he was stopped by state troopers.

When Nevius asked why he was stopped, a trooper told him he had an inoperative tail light, but would not then let Nevius examine the light. Numerous officers arrived and interrogated Nevius at length on issues unrelated to the stop -- such as questions about his van and his destination.

Without justification, the officers asked for consent to search his vehicle and, after the search began, they ignored Nevius' requests to stop the search. The officers then took apart the carpeting and interior of his van, riffled through his possessions and left them in disarray.

The search did not reveal contraband or evidence of any crime. After the search, Nevius checked the back of his car and saw that his tail lights were both working. When he mentioned this to the police officer, the officer laughed. He then issued Nevius a "warning" ticket for the alleged inoperative tail light.

"The rate of stops of African American drivers on portions of the New Jersey Turnpike are as high now as they were when New Jersey's attorney general first admitted that racial profiling was 'real, not imagined,'" said noted civil rights lawyer William Buckman of Moorestown, who represents Nevius pro bono for the ACLU-NJ.

"Despite the fact that the state police are already subject to a consent decree requiring federal monitoring, racial profiling continues in New Jersey," Buckman said. "This behavior will persist until we address the culture within the state police that allows these discriminatory actions to take place -- and until we have transparency so the public is getting all the facts."

The ACLU-NJ lawsuit challenges the stop itself, as well as other factors regarding the stop, including the alleged consent to search. Police officers cannot request consent to search unless they have a reasonable suspicion that there is evidence of a crime in the car. The ACLU-NJ also challenges the police officers' refusal to stop searching when Nevius asked them to, and how the search was conducted. These claims are based on the right under the federal and state constitutions of all people to equal treatment and to be free from unreasonable searches by the police, as well as rights under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act.

Governor Jon Corzine in August 2006 established an Advisory Committee on Police Standards, which has held numerous hearings over the past year to address racial profiling and make recommendations. Buckman, as well as ACLU-NJ staff and clients, testified before the committee regarding the need for professional licensing and external oversight of both the State Police and local police departments.

The ACLU-NJ has been at the forefront of fighting against racial discrimination and in 2003 successfully represented 12 individuals who had been targeted based on skin color while driving on the New Jersey Turnpike.

The most recent lawsuit, Nevius v. New Jersey State Police, was filed in U.S. District Court in Camden.