News & Commentary

Update on Feb. 10, 2021: HB 2713 and HB 2320 passed unanimously through committee. HB 2485 was replaced with a strike everything amendment that completely changed the bill. We will continue staying vigilant against other anti-protest bills, like HB 2309 and SB 1125.

This legislative session, ACLU Smart Justice Arizona is continuing to advocate for much-needed reforms to the criminal legal system. Two important bills will be heard in committee on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 and we will be there virtually to testify in support.

This legislative session, ACLU Smart Justice Arizona is continuing to advocate for much-needed reforms to the criminal legal system. Two important bills will be heard in committee on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 and we will be there virtually to testify in support.

As COVID-19 rages across Arizona, it continues to wreak havoc on the lives of incarcerated people. So far, at least 46 people have died of COVID-19 while living in an Arizona prison. Those are only the deaths that the Arizona Department of Corrections(ADOC) has told us about.

Let's get to work.

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.