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Apr 22, 2015

Shoshana Speaks: Mom Who Was Wrongly Arrested, Strip-Searched Tells of Ordeal

Due Process

It’s almost four years from the day I was forced off an airplane in Detroit, held for hours in a cell, strip-searched, and interrogated without explanation. Yet when I talk or think about the incident, it...

It’s almost four years from the day I was forced off an airplane in Detroit, held for hours in a cell, strip-searched, and interrogated without explanation. Yet when I talk or think about the incident, it...

Apr 21, 2015

A Zero-Sum Game: How Michigan’s School Discipline Laws Harm Special-Education Students

Student Rights

Special-education students in Michigan are being pushed out of public schools at an alarming rate—with far too many of them being driven directly in the school-to-prison pipeline. And increasingly, our zero...

Special-education students in Michigan are being pushed out of public schools at an alarming rate—with far too many of them being driven directly in the school-to-prison pipeline. And increasingly, our zero...

Apr 15, 2015

An Orwellian Grand Rapids Police Tactic Targets Black Americans for Simply Existing

Search and Seizure

Kirk McConer was arrested and jailed while talking to a friend outside a convenience store, where he had just purchased a soda. Tyrone Hightower was arrested and jailed after sitting in his car in the...

Kirk McConer was arrested and jailed while talking to a friend outside a convenience store, where he had just purchased a soda. Tyrone Hightower was arrested and jailed after sitting in his car in the...

Apr 14, 2015

#ThrowbackThursday: The Trouble with Tasers

Criminal Legal Reform

For decades, law enforcement has struggled with the proper, legal application of non-lethal weapons. From rubber bullets to chemical mace, technology has come a long way, but there is still no substitute...

For decades, law enforcement has struggled with the proper, legal application of non-lethal weapons. From rubber bullets to chemical mace, technology has come a long way, but there is still no substitute...

Apr 10, 2015

ACLU of Michigan, Grand Rapids Agree on Surveillance Policy That Protects Communities and Civil Liberties

Safe and Free

In March, the Grand Rapids City Commission formally adopted an administrative policy governing the purchase and use of surveillance equipment. Adoption of this policy makes Grand Rapids one for the first...

In March, the Grand Rapids City Commission formally adopted an administrative policy governing the purchase and use of surveillance equipment. Adoption of this policy makes Grand Rapids one for the first...

Apr 10, 2015

On Indiana and the Potential Dangers of a Michigan RFRA

Religious Liberty

In light of the growing number of state legislatures taking pains to introduce laws written to “protect” religious liberty, you’d think that the idea of safeguarding religious freedom is one that just...

In light of the growing number of state legislatures taking pains to introduce laws written to “protect” religious liberty, you’d think that the idea of safeguarding religious freedom is one that just...