News & Commentary

A federal court in Wichita has granted class-action status to 5,245 people on the Wichita Police Department’s gang list in a suit filed by the ACLU and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice in 2021, seeks to strike down a state law and city policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is crediting research from experts at Wharton and Princeton with helping to win its federal court case against the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) over unconstitutional treatment of out-of-state drivers.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is crediting research from experts at Wharton and Princeton with helping to win its federal court case against the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) over unconstitutional treatment of out-of-state drivers.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said in a statement that it was glad the commission realized allowing CoreCivic to house ICE detainees “would be an unsafe, inhumane decision.”

“As described in our letter, CoreCivic is plainly unable to run a facility that meets even the bare minimum standards afforded by our Constitution,” said Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “CoreCivic demonstrated a consistent and deliberate indifference to mitigating the dangerous and unconstitutional conditions in the Leavenworth facility, as it has elsewhere in the country. The Leavenworth Government should not invite CoreCivic back to once again abuse individuals’ human and civil rights. The constitutional imperatives that CoreCivic is incapable of following remain, and we urge the Commission to reject their bid to get back in business in Kansas.”

The reform prosecution movement faces a critical moment. With the recent uptick in violent crime, reform prosecutors face unprecedented attacks and calls for a return to “tough-on-crime” tactics. Those attacks rest on the false belief that criminal legal system reforms endanger public safety. To sustain the movement, reform prosecutors must build the case that their approach will make communities safer, and the Vera Institute of Justice’s (Vera’s) Reshaping Prosecution initiative is well-positioned to help them do so.

“It’s about Quindaro the idea,” said McCormick, who has also written columns for Kansas Reflector. “Quindaro the aspiration, Quindaro the vision. We’re talking about a place, as one of our sources in the report said, is maybe the best example of a multiracial democracy, not only in the history of the state, but to his knowledge, maybe anywhere in the country.”

Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, said Monday that drivers should not be subjected to different practices based on where they are driving.

Sharon Brett, litigation director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said people often struggle with the court process. Courts are confusing and police can take property without having to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a crime happened.