Think Progress published a post about Illinois' sex ed measure, which was recently signed by Governor Pat Quinn. The measure will ensure that schools which have a sex-ed curricula teach information that is medically accurate, age appropriate and complete. In other words, students in Illinois will learn about birth control in addition to learning about abstinence as ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The ACLU of Illinois lobbied and advocated for the passage of the sex ed bill, and urges supporters to thank the legislators who sponsored the bill.

According to the National Campaign’s recent survey, 69 percent of adults over the age of 18 agree that sex ed classes should include information about accurate prevention methods in addition to messages about delaying sex until teens are ready for it. The support is even greater among certain demographic groups. Seventy five percent of adults in the South — which has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and teen births in the country — think health curricula should teach kids about birth control.

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The Huffington Post published an article about the Evanston Police Department's recent announcement of a "stop-and-frisk" program that they hope will reduce crime in the area. The ACLU is concerned with the employment of "stop-and-frisk" practices by police departments across the country as they have been proven not only to be ineffective, but also to disproportionately target minorities. The ACLU of Illinois has also noted that these practices occur more often than they are admitted by police departments throughout the state.

The ACLU of Illinois recommends Evanston police officers thoroughly document each "stop-and-frisk" occurrence and that a supervisor reads each record to ensure the procedure was done properly with enough facts to justify the suspicion.

The ACLU also said the department should run a statistical analysis of the data on a periodical basis and then make that information available to the public.

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Vanita Gupta, deputy legal director of ACLU Nationwide, wrote an op-ed for The New York Times about ending mass incarceration in light of the recent announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder that nonviolent drug offenders will no longer be charged with offenses that result in severe mandatory sentences, and that the Justice Department will commit to ease prison overcrowding. Over the years, the ACLU has been deeply engaged in policy efforts to address issues surrounding mass incarceration.

The buildup of our prison-industrial complex was a bipartisan process that unfolded over decades, and digging ourselves out of this hole will require unlikely political alliances. (For instance, the American Civil Liberties Union is working on sentencing reform with Right on Crime, a conservative initiative, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization whose stances on immigration, voting and other civil rights policies we are fighting tooth and nail.) And where there is a lack of political will, we need to bring litigation of the kind that drove down prison populations in California and New Jersey and organize to make our voices heard.

Read the whole thing.