News & Commentary

The Denver Police Department requires a warrant for location tracking as a general rule, and provides an exception for missing people or true emergency situations where law enforcement must then go to the court and show probable cause after the fact. The fact that the police in Denver follow privacy-protective principles when tracking cell phone location belies claims by some that such procedures would impose unworkable burdens on law enforcement. They’re reasonable in Denver, and they would be reasonable nationwide. Not surprisingly, a warrant requirement works for law enforcement.  More importantly, a warrant means we don't sacrifice our privacy rights by using a cell phone.   

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On Friday, the ACLU submitted a letter to Vice President Biden, urging him to reject any proposals to put more police in schools. Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month, the vice president has called on outside groups to provide input on potential federal action to address gun violence. In our letter, we commend him for spearheading the initiative, but urge a carefully evaluated response that guards against unintended consequences for young people.   Keeping our young people safe in school is as important a priority as one can find. While proponents of increased school security may be well meaning, we shouldn’t respond to the critical question of how to protect students by rushing to put more police in schools, without understanding the serious negative effects doing so could have. As we’ve seen more and more in recent years, increased police presence in schools can harm educational opportunities by unnecessarily pushing students out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.   Adding police, metal detectors and surveillance might seem like a quick and easy way to make students safer, but experience has demonstrated otherwise. In practice, most school police spend a significant portion of their time responding to minor, nonviolent infractions – children who have drawn on desks or talked back to teachers, for example – rather than behaviors that seriously threaten school safety. In addition, over-policing and punitive school discipline policies have a disproportionate impact on students of color, as well as students with disabilities.   We hope our letter to Vice President Biden serves as a starting point for a longer dialogue about how we can implement smart reforms that will make us safer without sacrificing our civil rights and liberties. You can read the full letter here, which includes more detailed information about safeguards that schools can put in place if they already have a law enforcement presence, as well as a series of proactive actions that can have a positive impact on both learning opportunities and school climate.

Illinois’ decision to close Tamms did not happen in isolation; there is a larger criminal justice dialogue taking place across the country about the need for reform.  Spurred by growing budget deficits, costly litigation arising from unconstitutional treatment, and the public’s objection to inhumane conditions, several states are changing their prison systems to limit the use of long-term solitary confinement.  Some selected highlights: The Maine Department of Corrections cut its “supermax” population by over fifty percent and provided prisoners expanded access to programming and social stimulation. Over the last few years, Mississippi reduced the “supermax” population of one institution from 1000 to 150 and eventually closed the entire unit. In the last year, Colorado reduced the number of prisoners in solitary confinement by 36.9% and recently announced the closure of a 316-

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