ACLU of Illinois

Glad to see the KIND Act pass with unanimous bipartisan support. It allows DCFS to apply commonsense standards to certify relatives to care for young Illinoisans and to help them find their forever homes. Grateful to Sen. Hunter and Rep. Evans for ushering this bill to my desk.

Colleen Connell and Luis Gutierrez: Chicago should embrace, not reject, Mexican Independence Day celebrations trib.al/IsFIsRM

.@UofIllinois We understand police in riot gear are facing off with students protesting at University of Illinois . Armed police only escalate this situation and will put the safety of everyone at risk. We call on administrators to show restraint and use dialogue, not force.

We just delivered this open letter to over 650 colleges and university leaders. "We recognize that colleges and universities are managing heightened threats and anguished tensions on their campuses while trying to keep students safe — and we take those concerns seriously," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. "The devastating conflict in Israel and Palestine has embroiled campuses here at home, sometimes resulting in speech that includes terms we vehemently disagree with or even find offensive and repugnant. Yet it's precisely in times of crisis and fear that university leaders must remain firm in their commitment to free speech, open debate, and peaceful dissent on campus. A blanket call to investigate every chapter of a pro-Palestinian student group for 'material support to terrorists' — without even an attempt to cite evidence — is unwarranted, wrong, and dangerous. It echoes America's mistakes during the McCarthy era and is counterproductive. We urge college and university leaders to hold fast to our nation's best traditions and reject proposals to restrict constitutionally protected speech." Read our full letter here: aclu.org/documents/open…

Starting today someone will only be jailed pretrial if a judge determines their release would endanger others, or that there is a high risk they would flee. Not because they simply do not have enough wealth to buy their freedom.

Today, Illinois becomes the first state to abolish the use of money bond in the criminal legal system. Ending money bond is an historic step in reforming our criminal legal system.

Rally with us! Monday, Aug. 28th 3-7 PM at the Federal Plaza. Register: EndOverdoseNowIL.Eventbrite.com

The recent bomb threats targeting public libraries across the Chicago area are deeply troubling escalation in the attacks on books and libraries in this state. These threats of violence are not an appropriate response to books and ideas that some do not like.

A month away from ending money bond in Illinois, our director of criminal justice policy Ben Ruddell wrote a piece in the @Suntimes about the importance of implementing and supporting this historic change in our state. chicago.suntimes.com/2023/8/17/2383…

Mayor Johnson’s announcement of Larry Snelling as Superintendent of CPD is an opportunity for fundamental change in the way people across Chicago experience policing. We hope Chief Snelling brings long overdue changes to the policies and culture in CPD.

Anti-violence activist Darrell Dacres describes his experiences being stopped (& frisked) by CPD. @wttw #BlackVoicesWTTW @ONENorthside #stopandfrisk

All defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but no person is above the law. If President Trump is found guilty, he must be held accountable.

We joined housing advocates in challenging landlord policies in Cook County that automatically reject potential tenants who have any prior connection to an eviction case. These policies are most likely to adversely impact Black renters, especially Black women.

The Pretrial Fairness Act has been upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court, ending the use of money bond in the state. This means that soon no one will be detained in Illinois’ jails pre-trial just because they cannot afford the cost of bail.

In Springfield, Black drivers were 5 times more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers.

In Peoria, Black drivers were 6 times more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers, and Latino drivers were 1.7 times more likely to be stopped.

Two decades after Illinois began collecting and analyzing data about traffic stops, Black and Latino drivers continue to be stopped at higher rates across the state according to the 2022 Illinois Traffic and Pedestrian Stop Study Act data released this week.