News & Commentary

We’re wrapping up two committee weeks at the Capitol that saw a lot of action around civil rights and civil liberties. The legislature will now break for a week and come back to start the formal session on March 2. Here’s what you need to know to get prepared.

I’ve written about how body cameras are a great oversight mechanism that reduces the use of force incident and citizen complaints alike. We’ve sent suggestions to local and state policy makers alike suggesting some smart ways to protect privacy without frustrating the oversight purpose of the cameras. The Senate, however, has taken the promise of body cameras and turned it on its head by pursuing broad exemptions from the public record laws for the resulting footage.

By: Angel Harris, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project

Ida B. Wells said it best, "Our country's national crime is lynching."

Last week, we were reminded of this when the Equal Justice Initiative released its report, "Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror." A gruesome history of these carnivals of torture and death from the Civil War until World War II, the report documents the racial terrorism designed to keep black Americans across the South destitute and powerless.

Every Election Day, when many of us take our right to vote for granted, there are roughly 1.5 million people in Florida who do not have the ability to vote because of Florida’s Civil War-Era ban on voting by individuals with prior felony convictions. But this year, you have a chance to be a part of changing that.

Give the right to vote back to Floridians who have served their time!

The ACLU of Florida, along with a coalition of organizations, is collecting signatures petitioning to end the lifetime voting ban with an amendment to Florida’s state constitution.

Welcome to the 2015 legislative session and your weekly update. While the Florida legislature is not technically in session yet, committees are meeting to hold hearings and pass bills and we want to start sharing information with you now. Check back to the ACLU of Florida blog every week to find out what your representatives and senators are up to.

We have both good and bad news about the past week in the state capitol. On Monday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee held a very important oversight hearing with the Department of Corrections. In preparation for legislation that would try to reduce the prevalence of abuse and neglect in Florida prisons, the Senators grilled the Secretary and Inspector General of the Department of Corrections about the failure to provide health care to inmates, the inability to arrest corrections officers for criminal abuse of those in their custody and a general failure of accountability in the entire system.

The time is upon us once again. Monday, March 2 marks the start of the Florida legislature’s 2015 session and the ACLU of Florida will be at our state’s Capitol defending against bills that aim to limit your civil rights and civil liberties. We’ll also be fighting for new laws that look to expand freedoms for all Floridians. We’re excited about the work we’ll be doing and want to share just a glimpse of what’s to come.

The pictures of six black men stared back at me from the screen, the images of their faces shredded by bullet holes. It seemed like some kind of sick threat, but it was the work of a Florida police department.

This morning, I was greeted by the sickening news that the North Miami Beach Police Department (NMBPD) is using mug shots of black people and others for target practice. Mind you, these are not cartoons or computer-generated mug shots—these are photographs of real people, some of whom were arrested by the NMBPD itself.

By: Juan del Hierro, director of Ministry Empowerment for Unity on the Bay and one of the plaintiffs in Grimsley and Albu v. Scott, et al., our freedom to marry case in Florida.

For some, Tuesday, January 6th, will be just another day in Miami. For many others, it will be a day of celebration. Some will celebrate Three Kings Day, some will celebrate marriage equality, and many will celebrate both.

Our country is now having a much-needed conversation about racial profiling, constitutional policing, and how to hold officers accountable for the violation of rights, all stemming from a number of recent high-profile cases where law enforcement used excessive force that resulted in the death of a suspect. These systemic problems seem overwhelming, but one concrete and important step should be implemented as soon as possible: body worn cameras for officers.

Last week, here in Miami-Dade County, I had the privilege of being present for one significant step forward in the march for justice for the transgender community in South Florida, painful though it was at times to witness.

Most folks (a supermajority) think that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is wrong and should be prohibited, and the vast majority of people think—incorrectly—that those explicit protections exist under state law. They don’t.