News & Commentary

In case after case, a call for help led to a tragic death. And because that death occurred in a police encounter, grieving families faced a second blow: fighting an onslaught of police-driven narratives focused more on blaming the victim and suggesting the death was inevitable than asking what could have saved them. That dynamic feeds a false perception that all such deaths are inevitable, except perhaps a rare few attributable to a few bad actors. The ACLU’s database and report aim to show what families have long known — these deaths result from systemic failures across many institutions, not just policing.

When police point guns at children, they don’t just risk physical harm – they inflict lifelong trauma. That’s why what happened to a 15-year-old Frederick County child.

A Story of Love, Family, and the Impact of Immigration

New 2022 data on ICE deportations and detentions

Defend the Childhood Interrogation Protection and Juvenile Justice Reform Acts.

The family of Korryn and Kodi Gaines is suing to bring accountability for Kodi Gaines. Seven years ago, Baltimore County Police Officer Royce Ruby shot and killed 23-year-old Korryn Gaines. In the process, the officer also critically wounded her son, then five-year old Kodi.

On Dec. 4, the Maryland Supreme Court will have an opportunity to address this crisis of impunity when it hears a case in which lower courts radically expanded the reach of qualified immunity to excuse the horrific police shooting of a 5-year-old child amid police gunfire that killed his mother.

Teens Launched Youth Justice Action Month to Defend Children’s Rights

As residents of Prince George's Co., the litmus test for whether this new council is genuinely dedicated to the concerns of the people, particularly, the needs of residents from less affluent, over-policed communities, is the passage of a Police Accountability Board bill.