2014 October

10.31.14

A New Prisoners Report: How Does Ohio Compare?

Shakyra Diaz

The United States is the world’s largest jailer. With only 5 percent of the population, it has 25 percent of the world’s prison population.

In 1926, following a mandate from Congress, the National Prisoners Statistics Program began collecting demographic data voluntarily provided by states about people detained in jails, state, federal, and private prisons in the United States.

10.29.14

Carrying the Torch: Conversations on Race and Policing

Steve David

When tensions flared in Ferguson, Missouri, this past summer, the billowing smoke and swelling crowds caught the nation’s attention as images of heavily armed police marched across the news and social media feeds. A conversation about race, policing, and militarization followed.

10.27.14

Shackling: Ohio Juvenile Courts Should Have Rules on Restraints

Shakyra Diaz

This is the third in a series of posts on the topic of juvenile shackling.

This is Nate P. and I’m writing you this letter to let you know that cuffs and shackles make me feel like a criminal, not a “juvenile delinquent.” Shackles hurt and embarrass me most of the time.

10.24.14

Ebola Does Not Require Government to Choose between Safety and Freedom

Susan J. Becker

Susan J. Becker is a member of the ACLU of Ohio board of directors and a volunteer attorney in the Cleveland office.

When faced with a major health threat in this country, elected and appointed officials charged with protecting public health tend to employ a false dichotomy.

10.23.14

Look What Else Ohio Politicians Are Doing to Block Your Vote

Tim Cable

When Ohio’s legislature and secretary of state slashed early voting opportunities this year, the ACLU of Ohio fought it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

While that fight has received national media attention, there’s another ongoing battle for voting rights in Ohio that you might not have heard about.

10.22.14

Death by Secrecy

Mike Brickner

Ohio’s death penalty has had a long and sordid history. Just look at the past decade:

» Four botched executions.

» Ten people granted clemency by the governor.

» Fifty-six recommendations from an Ohio Supreme Court taskforce of experts to revamp our broken system.

10.20.14

Inspiring a New Generation of Activists

Jocelyn Rosnick

Belle Likover and Susan Galloway

It’s not where you’re from; it’s not where you are—it’s what you do.

Long time ACLU supporters, Ed and Belle Likover are shining examples of activists who truly lived and breathed this sentiment. Ed Likover stood for what he believed in even if he stood alone, and his courage never wavered.

10.17.14

Domestic Violence: A Matter of Civil Liberties

Ellen Kubit

“…Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, which, among many other things, should prompt us to reflect upon whether or not we take these “unalienable rights” memorialized in the Declaration of Independence seriously.

Acts of domestic violence are ultimately crimes of power that involve perpetrators who seek total control over their victims.

10.16.14

Sounds of the Season: LWVO Takes Time to Listen

Steve David

During autumn in Ohio, yards change to the color of campaign signs.  And shifting as rapidly as the weather, the courts are handing down rulings about when you can cast your ballot.

Just before early voting was set to begin, the U.S.

10.10.14

Whose History: In Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Steve David

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

And when he landed in the Caribbean, he enslaved and killed the native Taíno people in his search for gold. Fifty years after his arrival, the densely populated villages and cultural legacies were all but destroyed.  

10.06.14

What the Supreme Court’s “No Decision” About Marriage Equality Means for Ohio

Lisa Wurm

The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken: it will not hear any of the current seven marriage equality cases across the country.

There has been a lot of speculation that the Supreme Court would hear at least one case. So by denying all of the cases, the judges are sending a message that they agree with lower courts striking down marriage bans.

10.03.14

ACLU of Ohio Receives Award For Combating Debtors’ Prison

Jocelyn Rosnick

With so many nonprofit organizations working on important issues across the state, what made the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations (OANO) present the ACLU of Ohio with a 2014 Nonprofit Excellence Award?

For the past two years, the ACLU of Ohio has worked to end debtors’ prison across the state, and we’ve had some amazing achievements so far!

10.02.14

Worse Than Adults: The Shackling of Youth in Juvenile Court

Shakyra Diaz

This is the second in a series of posts on the topic of juvenile shackling.

“I have worn physical restraints while in the court room and meeting with my attorney. It doesn’t make you feel like anybody really cares about you and you are being treated like an animal.

10.01.14

Treating Our Addiction to Mass Criminalization

Shakyra Diaz

“The United States will never be able to prosecute or incarcerate its way to being a safer nation,” said last week U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, at a conference held by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.