Every American cherishes the civil liberties promised by our Constitution. However, the words alone do not make these rights a reality. We live better lives and are a better country because of the ACLU. 
The ACLU protects the rights of people accused of crimes, who must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. We also protect the rights of convicted persons. We oppose harsh laws that do little to make our society safer from the criminal element. We filed a lawsuit regarding the abusive conditions of confinement at the Cook County temporary juvenile detention center. We filed another lawsuit regarding the rights of adult prisoners to receive a wide range of lawful reading materials that did not threaten prison safety. We oppose the death penalty. We oppose criminal laws that treat children as adults, for example, by imposing mandatory transfer of minors from juvenile court to adult court, or that require lifetime registration on the publicly accessible sex offender registry based on crimes committed as a youth. We also oppose laws mandating DNA extraction from persons arrested but not convicted.
Featured Items
Tightening Belts Means Loosening Restraints: Illinois to Close Supermax Prison
One of the more positive things to result from deteriorating state budgets across the nation is that some state lawmakers are looking to smart criminal justice reform as a way... Continue reading
Unshackling Pregnant Prisoners
Melissa was pregnant at the time of her arrest in 2006; she gave birth in shackles. Melissa was in shackles two days prior to giving birth to her son. As... Continue reading
