Criminal Legal Reform

Increasingly harsh criminal justice policies over the last three decades have resulted in a system that relies on over-criminalization, mass incarceration, and racial injustice.

legal

Instead of ensuring public safety and addressing the root causes of crime, the war on drugs has led to unconstitutional police practices, unfair and inconsistent sentencing, and abuses of authority which only harm, rather than help, the public, and extremely disproportionately affect minorities.

Nationally, the ACLU's Smart Justice movement has sought to orchestrate national reforms to the “front end” of the criminal justice system from policing to sentencing. This includes putting an end to racially motivated policing and sentencing, increasing government accountability and transparency, and reversing the shift toward excessive incarceration.

The Latest


Resource
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White House Domestic Policy Counsel Office, Leavenworth Cou. Commission re: CoreCivic Leavenworth

Press Release
BREAKING: Gov Kelly has released eight people from prison through executive clemency

Gov. Kelly releases three ACLU of Kansas Clemency Project clients, paving the way for many more such releases

In a historic move the ACLU of Kansas hopes will normalize the use of executive clemency, Governor Laura Kelly today released three affiliate clients from various state prisons via commutation.
News & Commentary
alpr

Josh Hawley bill would keep drivers' Flock data from being sold by police or stored indefinitely

“I think this is a textbook example of what is supposed to happen,” Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubic told KCUR. “When communities come out to say, ‘This is not what we want our city, our town, our state, our country to look like,’ folks in power respond to that.”
News & Commentary
ICE leavenworth

How a Small Kansas City Became a Critical Hub for Trump’s Deportation Regime Against Its Will

A former maximum-security prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, is now a critical hub in the Trump administration’s immigration detention machine, transforming in just a few months from a facility shuttered for its inhospitable conditions to a privately run jail holding hundreds of immigrants.

Cases, Campaigns & Legislation


Court Case
Jun 13, 2022

AMICUS BRIEF: State v. Garrett

On June 13, 2022, the ACLU of Kansas filed an amicus brief in State of Kansas v. Edwanda R. Garrett challenging the constitutionality of K.S.A. 21-6608(c)(7), which currently prolongs probation for “as long as the amount of restitution order has not been paid”. By ensuring that low- and no-income people are subjected to longer and harsher punishment than their wealthier counterparts for simply being unable to pay, the statute violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Court Case
May 26, 2022

Glendening et al. v. Howard et al. [KDADS – Larned State Hospital]

The ACLU of Kansas, along with partners, filed a class action suit on May 26, 2022 against the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), citing wait times as long as 13 months for competency evaluations and restoration treatment for people facing criminal charges.
Court Case
Apr 19, 2021

Progeny et al v. City of Wichita et al

On April 15, 2021 the ACLU of Kansas and Kansas Appleseed filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of Wichita, challenging the Wichita Police Department's use of a "gang" list.
Court Case
Aug 18, 2026

Shaw v. Smith (previously Jones)

On January 30, 2020, the ACLU of Kansas filed a lawsuit challenging the Kansas Highway Patrol’s practice of unconstitutionally targeting motorists with out-of-state plates traveling to and from Colorado and routinely employing a training technique known as the “Kansas Two-Step.” We represent several individuals who were stopped and detained by KHP troopers for traffic infractions, and were then detained for a canine sniff of their vehicle, without adequate reasonable suspicion, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.