Attorney General's case highlights disparity in police treatment of racial justice protesters and white supremacists
In response to New York Attorney General Letitia James’s announcement that her office filed a case against the NYPD for rampant police violence against New Yorkers, our Executive Director Vince Warren issued the following statement:
This past summer, the NYPD responded to protests against persistent, systemic, murderous police violence against Black people with more violence: beatings, kettling, attacks with vehicles, and mass arrests. By contrast, last week we watched as white nationalists who staged an insurrection against the U.S. government were treated with kid gloves. The Attorney General’s case against the NYPD could not come at a more important time.
We filed the landmark stop-and-frisk lawsuit against the NYPD, Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, and continue to work with allies and co-counsel to hold the NYPD accountable. It is critical that communities directly impacted by discriminatory policing are able to play a role in this lawsuit. Stay tuned.
Save the date! Brick by Brick: A community forum on ending Death By Incarceration in Pennsylvania
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Join us Tuesday, January 26, as we partner with the Abolitionist Law Center and Amistad Law Project for a virtual community forum to discuss the ongoing legal and political fight to abolish Death By Incarceration (commonly known as Life Without Parole) in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is one of the leaders in the country and the world in condemning people to die in prison. Currently, more than 5,200 people in the state are serving Death By Incarceration sentences without the possibility of parole. This number includes approximately 1,100 who were convicted of felony murder, which applies when someone dies in the course of the felony, and the person convicted participated in the underlying felony but did not cause or intend to cause the death.
This community forum will be a space to hear personal experiences with Death By Incarceration from formerly incarcerated speakers and family members of people currently serving these sentences. Advocates and lawyers will share an overview of Death By Incarceration in the state, organizing efforts to abolish harsh sentencing practices, and an update on the lawsuit, Scott v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, which will be argued before the court on February 8. The case is the first of its kind to argue that Pennsylvania’s imposition of DBI sentences for felony murder is unconstitutional because it is a cruel, disproportionate punishment.
This event will be held over Zoom. For more information and to RSVP, head to our website.
Latest on the blog: Not Pictured by Pardiss Kebriaei
The latest on the Center for Constitutional Rights blog comes from Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei, who on January 11—the 19th anniversary of the transfer of the first Muslim men to the infamous Guantánamo Bay prison—wrote:
This is Sharqawi Al Hajj, a 47-year-old man from Yemen. He has been detained in Guantánamo for 17 years without charge. Guantánamo opened 19 years ago today.
Not pictured are his five siblings in Yemen, who see him a few times a year on video calls looking gaunt. His siblings' children, who see their uncle looking gaunt and stricken.
Not pictured is his mother, who died a few months ago, who last saw him in his 20s. His father, who died before her.
Not pictured are the detainees in his camp, who have walked around each other for 19 years without seeing another soul but their guards and lawyers.
Continue reading on our website.
