Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

Letter to SPD regarding request for public records considering Black Lives Matter protests

Document, Published: 
Friday, August 21, 2015
On February 23, 2015, we sent your office a public records request for records related to the Ferguson/Black Lives Matter protests that occurred on November 28, 2014. We received no production from your office until May 20, 2015. This response was only a partial response, and you indicated that we would be receiving the second installment of records on or about July 1, 2015. This date has now been moved out to August 12, 2015. The responses we have received from your office thus far have raised some concerns, which our office finds very troubling.
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Seattle Police Admit Mishandling ACLU's Black Lives Matter Request

Published: 
Friday, August 21, 2015
The Seattle Police Department has repeatedly failed to meet its own deadlines for producing records we requested seven months ago related to the SPD’s handling of Black Lives Matters/Ferguson protests held in November 2014.
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Groups Warn Local Officials on Laws Criminalizing Sleeping and Camping by the Homeless

News Release, Published: 
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The ACLU-WA and allies are pointing local officials statewide to an important Dept. of Justice brief. It explains that when there is insufficient shelter space, cities that prosecute homeless people for sleeping or camping in public places violate the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
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Making History: Latino Voter Participation Increases under Yakima’s New District System

Published: 
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Yakima held its first election under the City Council district system created by an ACLU-WA lawsuit. Many people in new majority-Latino districts who didn’t vote in the last primary cast ballots this year – showing citizens will participate in elections when they have a meaningful opportunity to do so.
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Washington Supreme Court Rules Judges Can Use Age to Impose Lower Sentences for Youth

Published: 
Monday, August 17, 2015
The WA Supreme Court has ruled that a judge can consider a defendant’s young age in imposing a sentence for a crime committed after his 18th birthday. The ruling affirmed what parents have known and scientists have confirmed: that the brain does not achieve full maturity until well past the age of 18.
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ACLU calls on San Juan to comply with Washington’s Reproductive Privacy Act

Published: 
Monday, August 10, 2015
The ACLU of Washington is calling on San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1  to comply with Washington’s Reproductive Privacy (RPA) Act and enable women to obtain vital reproductive healthcare services.  The ACLU has written to the District asking it to change its policies and practices to fulfill its obligations under state law.
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