America’s criminal justice system should keep communities safe, treat people fairly and use fiscal resources wisely.

ACLU-TN’s Campaign for Smart Justice advocates for a criminal justice system that fosters public safety by ensuring police accountability and by reducing mass incarceration:

  • Ensuring police accountability.  Our work to ensure police accountability includes initiatives to end racial profiling, reform civil asset forfeiture, and promote the use of police body cameras with protections in place for privacy and transparency.

  • Reducing mass incarceration.  Our work to reduce mass incarceration includes advocating for sentencing reform, alternatives to incarceration, an end to the “school-to-prison pipeline,” recidivism reduction, and reentry policies and programs.

In all of our work, our goal is to ensure that constitutional protections are afforded to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or economics.

At the Capitol

Legislative Watch List
Urge Nashville Metro Council to Support Divestment from Private Prison Corporations
Fix Tennessee's Dangerous and Antiquated "Safekeeping" System
Support Fair Sentencing Reform in Tennessee
End the Months-Long Solitary Confinement of a 16-Year-Old Girl
Reduce Nashville Jailers' Daily Fees to Zero
Support a Fresh Start After Incarceration
Don't Lock Up Tennessee Youth for Life
Stop Coerced Sterilization in Criminal Sentencing

In the Courts

Challenging the Solitary Confinement of Youth: Doe v. Hommrich, et al.
Challenging the Tennessee Department of Correction's Denial of Hepatitis C Treatment: Graham, et al. v. Parker, et al.
Arrests and Handcuffing of Schoolchildren in Rutherford County
ACLU-TN Secures Access to Attorneys for Knox County Youth Charged with Truancy
Evictions Based on Criminal Arrests
Protecting Against Civil Asset Forfeiture: Tennessee v. Prabhakar

Resources

Policing for Profit: The Shocking Cost of Civil Asset Forfeiture
Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement
What To Do If You’re Stopped By Police, Immigration Agents or the FBI
My Rights When Encountering the Police Card
Police Brutality and Misconduct Resource Sheet
Criminal Defendants Resource Sheet
Prisoners’ Rights Resource Sheet
Resources for Ex-Offenders
Restoring the Right to Vote After a Felony Conviction
Addressing Barriers to the Ballot Box: Registering to Vote in Tennessee with a Past Felony Conviction
Prison Privatization: Who Is CCA?

Take Action

Congress: End Racial Profiling Now
No Barriers to the Ballot Box
Have you lost your right to vote due to a felony conviction?