Press Releases

Federal Court Settlement Provides Step Towards Ending Poverty-Based Driver’s License Revocation in North Carolina

“This settlement will help mitigate the harms of the unnecessarily harsh and punitive practice of revoking people’s drivers’ licenses because they are not wealthy, a practice which has disproportionately affected people and communities of color,” said Michele Delgado, staff attorney for the ACLU...
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform
Court Cases: Johnson v. Goodwin

Federal Court Holds Final Hearing in Driver's License Revocation Case

Today’s hearing comes nearly four years after three North Carolinians filed suit challenging North Carolina’s law and the DMV’s practice of revoking driver’s licenses as unconstitutional. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of North Carolina, and
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform
Court Cases: Johnson v. Goodwin

ACLU & Prisoner Legal Services Challenge NC's Use of Solitary Confinement

RALEIGH – Four people who have spent years locked in solitary confinement in North Carolina prisons filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the state’s use of the practice – in which people are held in cells no bigger than a parking space for 22 to 24 hours a day with little to no human contact.
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform

Court Orders N.C. to Provide Lifesaving Treatment to People Incarcerated

A federal court has ordered North Carolina to provide treatment for Hepatitis C, the most deadly infectious disease in the U.S., to three individual plaintiffs and to make treatment possible for all people who are incarcerated in state prisons and have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform

Bail Reform Has Broad, Bipartisan Support in N.C., Poll Finds

RALEIGH — North Carolinians across the ideological spectrum overwhelmingly support reforming the state’s bail system, according to a statewide poll commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina.
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform

ACLU of N.C. Releases Roadmap for Cutting Incarceration by 50 Percent

RALEIGH — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina today released a report that outlines how North Carolina can reduce its jail and prison population by half and save more than $1 billion.
Issue Areas: Criminal Law Reform