Research & Publications

As the harsh reality of the Trump administration’s extreme agenda has settled in over the last year, we are honored that so many people have put their trust in the ACLU to defend civil liberties and to push back against the worst instincts of those who govern.

When two Black men were arrested at a Starbucks coffee shop in Philadelphia in April, it came as no surprise to those of us at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Infuriating, sure. But not surprising.

Our country has to do better in ending mass incarceration and the racial disparities that plague the criminal justice system.

In August, we were all horrified by the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists were on the march, spewing their vile worldview and motivating one of their kind to drive a car into a crowd of counter-protestors, killing Heather Heyer.

In some ways, our country changed on November 8, 2016. The United States elected a leader who, by all measures, is hostile to the basic foundations and principles that we stand for.

A robust dialogue has risen up about police practices—stop-and-frisk, broken windows, the biased implementation of the War on Drugs—which have led to both unnecessary deaths and, thankfully, to the “social death” of mass incarceration.