Issues

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. 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.

In recent years, government-sanctioned attacks on immigrants’ civil rights and liberties have increased in number and intensity. Immigrants face violence, discrimination, detention, and deportation, often without due process. When immigrants are denied equal protection under the law, the constitutional values upon which this country was founded are degraded.

Since 1936 the ACLU has been a force for LGBTQ+ rights, and we are proud to keep that fight alive in Kansas. Even as the nation moves forward toward equality for all people, there are also some who seek to create unnecessary obstacles for people in the LGBTQ+ community. People face discrimination in the work place, housing, and the public sphere based on their sexual orientation gender identity, and there are few laws in place to protect them.

This country was founded over 200 years ago on the principles of freedom and equality, but for millions, this vision has yet to be realized. Despite the efforts of generations of civil rights activists, our country has yet to rid itself of pervasive racism, which has kept people of color at a stark disadvantage throughout history, and continues to do so.

The First Amendment is the foundation for a country free from tyranny and helps protect all of the other rights that are guaranteed to all people.

While the right to vote should be guaranteed to all eligible Americans, this fundamental constitutional right is constantly under attack.