Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiJune 26, 2018

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the James Madison Institute were among the groups discussing this year’s iteration of the Caruthers Institute report “Stepping Up: Florida’s Top Juvenile Pre-Arrest Diversion Efforts” on a Tuesday morning conference call. Dewey Caruthers, president of The Caruthers Institute, which conducts the study, […]

Scott PowersJune 25, 2018

The city of Orlando announced Monday it has ended its pilot project for the police to use Amazon Rekognition facial recognition software but held the door open for possible further use even as the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida called it a potential invasion of residents’ privacy, free speech and due process rights and […]

Staff ReportsApril 9, 2018

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Howard Simon, the longest-serving American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) official, is retiring at the end of the year. Simon spent the last 21 years as head of the ACLU of Florida, and directed the organization’s Michigan office for 23 years before that. “His cumulative 44-year career … is the longest in the ACLU’s 98-year history,” the group […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 17, 2018

Saying they’re tired of Congress punting on the issue, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, joined by the acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced a new agreement under which 17 local jails in Florida will hold undocumented immigrants for 48 hours after the inmate has posted bail to give federal agents time to […]

Mitch PerryDecember 12, 2017

While red-leaning states like Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana have made significant criminal justice reforms over the past decade, Florida’s GOP-led Legislature has stood still. Thirty-three states have implemented such reforms since 2007, while Florida’s prison population continues to grow, with the state now spending more than $2.4 billion a year to incarcerate nearly 100,000 people […]

Ana CeballosNovember 21, 2017

As the state continued its fight to keep a law requiring women to see a doctor and wait 24 hours before getting an abortion on Tuesday, its latest argument included the comparison that if there are waiting periods for cremations and divorces, abortions should have them too. As it stands now, women do not have […]

Mitch PerryOctober 23, 2017

Advocates supporting issuing civil citations to youth instead of arrests hailed a report issued Monday showing there were 3,000 fewer arrests for “common youth” misbehavior in 2016. And while approximately one-quarter of those arrests came from just three counties — Orange, Hillsborough and Duval — all three have seen a leadership change that could diminish […]

Mitch PerryOctober 13, 2017

In one of the highest profile appearances since her election in July as chair the Hillsborough County NAACP, Yvette Lewis took a shot at some of the most prominent establishment names in Tampa. During Friday’s Cafe Con Tampa at the Oxford Exchange, Lewis shared brutally honest thoughts on several topics: A lack of diversity at the University […]

Peter SchorschAugust 14, 2017

The political committee backing a ballot initiative to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent felons brought in over $500,000 last month. “Floridians for a Fair Democracy” received $250,000 of the July haul from the American Civil Liberties Union, with another $150,000 coming from the The Advocacy Fund, a San Francisco-based group that funds a variety […]

Mitch PerryAugust 3, 2017

No one in Florida has worked harder than Desmond Meade to expand felons’ voting rights. Starting in 2015, Meade and his organization, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, have blanketed the state, collecting signatures to place on the ballot an initiative that would overturn the automatic ban on felons voting. Although the group fell short for the […]

Tag: ACLU

Strides made in pre-arrest diversion programs; gaps in schools, rural counties persist

Orlando ends use of facial recognition software

Personnel note: ACLU of Florida’s Howard Simon to retire

ICE, Florida counties strike deal on new immigrant detention policy

Tampa panel talks criminal justice reform ahead of Session

State keeps fighting for suspended law requiring 24-hour abortion waiting periods

‘Bad Boys’ no more: Juvenile arrests decrease, report says

Hillsborough NAACP head Yvette Lewis takes on the establishment at Cafe Con Tampa

Committee backing felon voting rights amendment adds $500K in July

ACLU plans to spend millions on campaign to restore felons’ voting rights surprised Desmond Meade