Criminal Legal System
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Southern Border Communities Coalition Files Supreme Court Amicus in Barnes v. Felix to Urge End to Excessive Use of Force by Law Enforcement
Tags Share November 20, 2024 – Today, the Southern Border Communities Coalition took its fight for dignity and human rights to the U.S. Supreme Court by filing an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in a major police shooting case, Barnes v. Felix, to hold law enforcement including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), accountable…
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The Guardian: Female migrant in Florida subjected to ‘horrific’ treatment, complaint alleges
Tags Share A recent civil rights complaint alleges abuse and neglect at a Florida immigration detention center. A woman detained in a facility with a long history of allegations of mistreatment, identified only as Ana in the report, detailed extensive mental and sexual abuse. “Ana came to Baker vulnerable and in need, and officers responded…
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Barnes v. Felix: Limiting Deadly Police Force
Our amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to recognize that U.S. law, like international human rights law, limits police use of lethal force to situations where it is both necessary and proportionate to a threat.
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Private Prison Companies Call Trump’s Deportation Plans ‘Unprecedented Opportunity’ Trump made mass deportation of undocumented immigrants ― and even some immigrants who are here with legal protections ― a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign, building on years of racist and dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants, speaking affectionately for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s mass deportation program, and even invoking an 18th-century…
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Franklin v. New York: Protecting the Integrity of Bail
Case Citation Frankin v. New York, 604 U. S. __ (2025) (certiorari denied) Tags Share Case Partners
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Defending Human Rights at Home: VP of US Advocacy and Litigation Anthony Enriquez on the Work Ahead of Us
Tags Share No matter who occupies the presidency, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights will continue to fight to reduce the size, scope, and power of all forms of mass incarceration in American society. We have an unshakable commitment to our grassroots partners and our mission to expose and to end police and prison abuses in…
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Behind the Headlines: Human Rights at the Ballot Box
Tags Share Immigration and criminal legal issues have been center stage in the 2024 election cycle, from Former President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on immigrants and plans for mass deportations to Vice President Kamala Harris’s record as a former prosecutor. But the national media’s near-exclusive focus on the presidential election obscures other important votes taking…
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Torture of Black people in solitary confinement in North Carolina: report to UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
Receiving Body United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Report Type Submission on Principles, Provisions and Pathways to Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Tags Partners
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North Carolina brutalizes Black people with solitary confinement: report to UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
The United States weaponizes solitary confinement against Afro-descendent people in a wide range of detention settings, from municipal jails to state and federal prisons to immigration detention centers, and even within care settings for foster youth. Afro-descendant people, who are disproportionately harmed by U.S. carceral systems, face devastating mental, physical, and emotional harm from solitary…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Venezuelan opposition leaders win the EU’s top human rights prize Venezuelan opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia have won the European Union’s top human rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Cambodia Journalist Who Exposed Scams Is Released on Bail A prominent Cambodian journalist known for his…
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Behind the Headlines: The Urgency of Decarceration in the Fight for Climate Justice
Tags Share In October, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, just weeks after Hurricane Helene, which killed over 200 people across six states. Scientists believe that the intensity and frequency of severe hurricanes in recent years is in large part due to climate change. In one of the largest and most urgent evacuation efforts in…
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This Week’s Spotlight on Human Rights
Tags Share Several Florida jails and prisons refuse to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton Several Florida jails and prisons are refusing to evacuate their residents ahead of Hurricane Milton despite being in the evacuation zone of the storm. Manatee county jail, which has 1,200 incarcerated people and is located on the south-east side of Tampa Bay, in the path…
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