News & Commentary

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel was elected to serve a four-year term as the top prosecutor of the third-largest prosecuting agency in the nation. The ACLU of Arizona released the following statement in response to the election results.

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel is prosecuting people for exercising their First Amendment rights by charging protesters with serious felony offenses aimed at suppressing the movement against police violence. It is blatant overreach and she must answer for it.

There is so much at stake this November. Our civil liberties are on the line in races up and down the ballot. The ACLU of Arizona is invested in one local race in particular, the race for Maricopa County Attorney.

When prosecuted for simple marijuana possession in Maricopa County, Hispanic people are sentenced to significantly longer jail and prisons sentences than their white and Black counterparts.

There is so much at stake this November. Our civil liberties are on the line in races up and down the ballot.

Hundreds of thousands of lives have been upended due to simple marijuana possession.

In 2018, we did a simple but radical thing: asked a prosecutor to tell us how their office runs.

At a time when Arizonans are calling for more transparency from the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, Director David Shinn silently changed ADCRR’s media policy making it far more difficult for incarcerated people to talk to reporters.

The majority of people incarcerated in Arizona prisons were prosecuted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and historically the county attorney has great sway over which criminal justice bills become law and which bills get stonewalled.