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In California, more than 200 people have been wrongfully convicted of murder, rape, or other serious offenses since 1989; Across the country, 123 people have been exonerated and released from death row since 1973.; The average time spent in prison by persons who were sentenced to death and later found to be wrongfully convicted is nine years.; There are approximately 650 current death row inmates ... Read More

Video Surveillance: Stop Expansion of Video Surveillance Cameras at 16th and Mission Do you live, work, or walk around 16th and Mission? If you don't let the Police Commission know that you do not want public video cameras put up that will monitor your activities, while not preventing or reducing crime, you need to let them know now ! Come to the Police Commi... Read More

A federal judge announced today his intention to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the City of Fresno from unlawfully destroying the personal property of thousands of homeless residents. The lawsuit, Kincaid v. City of Fresno, was filed in October and claims that the City has been violating the constitutional rights of homeless people by seizing and immediately destroying their personal pro... Read More

The issue raised in Barrett v. Rosenthal was whether the protection of the Communications Decency Act's Section 230 applies to individuals who frequently use the Internet to pass on information obtained elsewhere, whether by forwarding an email written by someone else or, as was the case in Barrett, posting an email from someone else to a newsgroup. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed... Read More

The Berkeley Police Association is seeking to shut down the open public hearing process that has made Berkeley's Police Review Commission (PRC) a model for the nation since its creation in 1973. In the wake of the recent Copley Press v. San Diego County decision (which severely limits public access to the disciplinary records of police officers), the police association is hoping to exclude the pu... Read More

In response to San Francisco's first request for a sweeping civil injunction against an alleged gang in the City’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, the ACLU of Northern California filed an amicus brief today asking the Court not to issue an injunction at the hearing on the topic next week. Read More

Download the Fall 2006 ACLU-NC Newsletter and read about our latest events and initiatives. Read More

In a decision that will be appealed to the California Supreme Court, a divided panel of the California Court of Appeal ruled today that California may continue to bar same-sex couples from marriage. In a strong dissent, Justice Anthony Kline wrote, “the inescapable effect of the analysis the majority adopts is to diminish the humanity of the lesbians and gay men whose rights are defeated. The righ... Read More

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California has historically opposed civil gang injunctions because of their unfair impact on civil liberties, their potential for racial profiling, and due process concerns.In September 2006, the City Attorney of San Francisco sought the city's first civil gang injunction in the Bayview neighborhood.  On June 21, 2007, the city filed two new gang injunctio... Read More

Very disappointing news – despite strong support from up and down the state and across the aisle and thousands of letters sent by constituents, the Governor vetoed the RFID bill. GOVERNOR VETOES RFID PRIVACY MEASURE; SIMITIAN CALLS VETO A "MISSED OPPORTUNITY," SAYS HE'LL REINTRODUCE LEGISLATION Sacramento – State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) announced to... Read More