The New York Civil Liberties Union today released an analysis of the NYPD’s 2012 stop-and-frisk data showing that the stop-and-frisk program’s stark racial disparities and ineffectiveness in recovering illegal guns continued last year despite a decline in the overall number of stops. The analysis includes new information on how the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program contributes to the city’s soaring arrest rates for marijuana possession.

‘Broadway Stands Up For Freedom’ on July 22 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts

In response to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s announcement that she will not support the anti-profiling bill before the City Council as part of the Community Safety Act, the leadership of the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement, attributable to NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.

In testimony delivered today at a New York City Council joint-committee hearing on school safety and student discipline, the New York Civil Liberties Union urged lawmakers to strengthen the reporting requirements in the Student Safety Act – a 2011 city law that requires regular reporting by the DOE and NYPD on school safety and disciplinary issues, including student suspensions and arrests. Specifically, the NYCLU asked council members to reduce the amount of redactions the city Department of Education (DOE) makes to suspension data released under the Student Safety Act.

A federal judge has ruled that a New York City Transit Authority rule requiring people using the city’s transit system to carry ID is unconstitutional. The decision is a victory for the New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit in November, 2011 defending the public’s right to take photographs in the subway system without fear of being arrested or having to show identification to police.

The NYPD is set to record its 5 millionth stop-and-frisk encounter under Mayor Bloomberg today, according to an analysis by the New York Civil Liberties Union based on an extrapolation of Police Department data. About 4.4 million of the stop-and-frisk encounters, or 88 percent, were of innocent people as they did not result in an arrest or summons. More than 86 percent of people stopped were black or Latino.

Thanks to years of aggressive organizing and public education led by youth, parents, teachers and advocates, the number of arrests and tickets issued at New York City public schools declined during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released today by the Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York and the New York Civil Liberties Union. But while the decline is good news, disparities in arrests and tickets remain shockingly high with black and Latino students bearing the brunt of the NYPD’s school discipline policies.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today released an iPhone version of Stop and Frisk Watch – a free smart-phone app that allows bystanders to document NYPD stop-and-frisk encounters and alert community members when a street stop is in progress.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today urged Lewis A. Fidler, assistant majority leader of the New York City Council, to withdraw his threat to withhold funding from Brooklyn College if the political science department continues to sponsor an event tonight with speakers who advocate for Israel’s withdrawal from disputed territories where Palestinians live.

Partnering civil rights attorneys today filed papers in federal court seeking to stop the NYPD from creating dossiers on innocent Muslim New Yorkers and end the Police Department’s ability to initiate investigations into Muslim New Yorkers when there is no belief that they have engaged or are about to engage in unlawful activity or an act of terrorism. The filing is part of the Handschu v. Special Services Division proceeding, a decades-old federal case that has produced a series of court orders regulating NYPD surveillance of political and religious activity.