By Corey Stoughton Medical experts released a report last week confirming for the first time that Tasers — the electronic stun guns that are becoming ubiquitous among cops in New York — can kill you. The report says that these weapons, which deliver up to 50,000 volts of electricity through barbed wires or direct contact with the skin, can set off irregular heart rhythms and deadly heart attacks.

By Amol Sinha and Taylor Pendergrass Every year, thousands of people, most of whom have not yet been convicted of any crime, are kept in squalid conditions at county jails in Suffolk and Nassau counties. The New York Civil Liberties Union has sued both counties over the inhumane conditions at their respective jails. The appalling conditions at local county jails must be remedied immediately, but meeting minimum standards is only a temporary solution to a symptom of a much larger problem: over-incarceration.

By Christopher Dunn A United States Supreme Court that has been systematically diluting the Fourth Amendment rights of criminal defendants dropped a bombshell last week with its unanimous ruling in United States v. Jones that police use of GPS devices on the vehicles of suspects is a search under the Constitution.

By Jessica Glynn, Elizabeth Joynes and Amol Sinha Does the personal information of every parent who buys their child a prepaid cell phone belong in a police database? Suffolk County legislators must ask themselves this question on Tuesday, June 7, when they vote on a bill that would create a registry of all prepaid cell phone purchases in the county.

By Christopher Dunn In a relatively bright spot for civil rights, the United States Supreme Court last term often ruled in favor of convicted prisoners claiming constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel.

By Donna Lieberman Gov. Paterson is considering a bill that would end the NYPD's practice of keeping a vast computer database of the names and personal information of innocent people who were unjustly stopped, questioned or frisked by police officers. He should sign it without delay. With a pen stroke, the governor can pull the plug on this virtual police lineup of millions of completely innocent black and Latino New Yorkers, and take an important stand for everyone's privacy and due process rights.

By Christopher Dunn The last 10 years have been tumultuous ones for Miranda warnings. The Supreme Court opened the decade with a watershed decision turning back a frontal assault on the warnings. Since then, however, as with other constitutional rights, an increasingly conservative Court has narrowed the Fifth Amendment’s protections against self-incrimination in a piecemeal fashion, culminating in three significant cases this Term. Miranda Before the 21st Century

By Corey Stoughton — Kimberly Hurrell-Harring made a mistake. The mother of two was bullied by her jailbird husband into bringing a small amount of marijuana to him in prison. She got caught and, unable to afford a private lawyer on her meager nurse's salary, she turned to New York's public defense system to provide her with legal representation.

By Donna Lieberman — In two weeks, Manhattan residents will begin the process of electing a new district attorney. As the top elected criminal justice official, the DA has a profound impact on our civil rights and liberties. That is why the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Justice Action Center at New York Law School, Common Cause NY and nine other nonpartisan civil rights organizations got together to host a DA candidates debate exclusively on civil rights and liberties.

By Christopher Dunn — Civil rights suits often are possible only because of statutory provisions authorizing courts to award attorney's fees to prevailing plaintiffs. In two recent decisions, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, led by former Chief Judge John Walker and current Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, has substantially reduced the fees available to Manhattan civil rights lawyers who file cases outside the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.