At a press conference today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania celebrated  the August 1 launch of a pilot program that will change how Philadelphia police interact with individuals who are committing minor offenses.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has released a new edition of its report More Law, Less Justice, exposing how Pennsylvania state legislators continue to pass bills that expand the commonwealth’s criminal justice system with an overreliance on punishment. 

On Thursday, a federal judge issued a new order in the decade-long enforcement of the agreement by the city of Philadelphia to end racial bias in stops and frisks by city police officers.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has instructed his office to refuse all plea deals for clients of attorney Milton Raiford just days after Mr. Raiford criticized the DA’s office for what he characterized as systematic racism.

The American Civil Liberties Union responded this morning after Larry Krasner had secured the Democratic nomination for district attorney in Philadelphia in Tuesday’s primary election.

The ACLU-PA and the firm law Kairys Rudovsky Messing Feinberg and Lin filed a motion in federal court asking that the city of Philadelphia be ordered to halt investigative stops for most minor offenses and implement other reforms to address racial disparities in police stop-and-frisk practices.

Police in Muhlenberg Township were called to the home of a man in the midst of a mental health crisis. When the man, who has yet to be identified, refused to drop a knife he was holding, police shot and killed him. 

An Allegheny County judge is facing a federal constitutional lawsuit filed today by Abolitionist Law Center after the judge’s refusal to allow virtual access to his court proceedings.

HARRISBURG - The 2019 ballot question amending the Pennsylvania constitution to overhaul criminal justice proceedings, known as Marsy’s Law, is unconstitutional and cannot be certified, a Commonwealth Court ruled today.