Criminal Law Reform
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Arizona
Oct 2023
Criminal Law Reform
Racial Justice
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City of
Fund for Empowerment is a challenge to the City of Phoenix’s practice of conducting sweeps of encampments without notice, issuing citations to unsheltered people for camping and sleeping on public property when they have no place else to go, and confiscating and destroying their property without notice or process.
U.S. Supreme Court
Sep 2023
Criminal Law Reform
McElrath v. Georgia
Does the Double Jeopardy Clause bar an appellate court from reviewing and setting aside a jury’s verdicts of acquittal on the ground that the verdict is inconsistent with the jury’s verdict on other charges?
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2023
Criminal Law Reform
Pulsifer v. United States
This case involves the interpretation of a federal law that allows defendants to avoid mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent drug crimes, allowing judges to impose sentences tailored to their individual circumstances.
Texas
Jul 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Prisoners' Rights
Sanchez et al v. Dallas County Sheriff et al
Decarceration has always been an emergency, a life and death proposition, but COVID-19 makes this effort intensely urgent. The ACLU has been working with our partners to litigate for the rights of those who are incarcerated and cannot protect themselves because of the policies of the institutions in which they are jailed.
All Cases
158 Criminal Law Reform Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Lombardo v. City of Saint Louis, 20–391
Whether a reasonable jury could find that police officers violate the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive force when they kill a shackled and handcuffed arrestee inside of a jail cell by holding him face-down on the ground and pressing into his back until he suffocated, also known as compression asphyxiation.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Lombardo v. City of Saint Louis, 20–391
Whether a reasonable jury could find that police officers violate the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive force when they kill a shackled and handcuffed arrestee inside of a jail cell by holding him face-down on the ground and pressing into his back until he suffocated, also known as compression asphyxiation.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Caniglia v. Strom
Whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Caniglia v. Strom
Whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Oliva v. Nivar
Whether individuals can challenge the conduct of federal officials engaged in standard law enforcement operations as unconstitutional under Bivens or whether such claims present a new context unless they involve narcotics officers “manacling the plaintiff in front of his family in his home and stripsearching him in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” as the Fifth Circuit held.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Oliva v. Nivar
Whether individuals can challenge the conduct of federal officials engaged in standard law enforcement operations as unconstitutional under Bivens or whether such claims present a new context unless they involve narcotics officers “manacling the plaintiff in front of his family in his home and stripsearching him in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” as the Fifth Circuit held.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Terry v. United States
Whether all individuals sentenced for crack cocaine offenses under a now-amended federal statute that created a 100-to-1 disparity between the treatment of cocaine in its crack and powder forms are eligible for resentencing under amendments made by the First Step Act of 2018.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Terry v. United States
Whether all individuals sentenced for crack cocaine offenses under a now-amended federal statute that created a 100-to-1 disparity between the treatment of cocaine in its crack and powder forms are eligible for resentencing under amendments made by the First Step Act of 2018.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Edwards v. Vannoy
Whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, holding that the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a unanimous jury verdict, applies retroactively to cases on federal collateral review.
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U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Criminal Law Reform
Edwards v. Vannoy
Whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, holding that the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a unanimous jury verdict, applies retroactively to cases on federal collateral review.