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Here’s How Medical Aid in Dying Gives Us More Control Over Our Bodies - NYCLU

Almost all of us will experience the loss of a loved one, often watching with a feeling of helplessness as their health declines toward the inevitable. During this time, we want to respect our loved one’s autonomy and minimize their suffering during their final days. Terminally ill people should have the right to some degree of control over the circumstances of their deaths, just as they have the right to refuse life-prolonging treatments. In recognition of this core civil liberty, twelve states...

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In a Cato, NY Factory Raid, Officers Conducted an Unconstitutional Dragnet Search for Immigrants and Violated 160 Workers’ Rights

The raid flagrantly violated workers’ constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment protects everyone – citizens and non-citizens – from unreasonable search and seizure. But officers had no probable cause to demand identification, question, or arrest factory employees. Agents arrested some people even though they had valid work authorization and open immigration cases. In one clear rights violation, worker Argentina Juarez-Lopez was detained after asking to speak with a lawyer. Officers did not kn...

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NY Prisons Are Barring Visitors From Seeing Their Loved Ones – Because They’re Using Tampons

Erica has been visiting her incarcerated husband for years. “Every weekend, faithfully. Rain, sleet, snow, whatever the weather was – as long as the visit was open, I was there,” she told the NYCLU. Erica never had any issues with the metal detectors and body-sniffing dogs that New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) previously used to scan visitors to its state prisons. But then, to meet the demands of correction officers who staged a three-week wildcat strike in...

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Police Responses to Mental Health Crises Often Turn Deadly. Here’s a Better Way.

19-year-old Win Rozario called 911 for the same reason anyone would. He was in urgent need of help. The teen never got the assistance he needed. Instead, two police officers responded to the call. Within two minutes of arriving at his home, they tased him and then shot him dead. Body-camera recordings reveal that Rozario’s younger brother met the officers downstairs and explained that Rozario was having an “episode.” “He doesn’t even know what he’s doing, to be honest,” Rozario’s brother told th...

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Trump Is Forcing Immigrants to Flee. Here's How We're Fighting Back

Under the Trump administration, thousands of people who have not broken any laws currently sit trapped in detention centers without any idea if or when they will be able to return to their families and communities. In addition, they’re enduring terrible conditions such as extreme overcrowding, inadequate food and hygiene, and lack of access to legal counsel. The administration’s agenda is clear: forcing immigrants to endure months or even years of detention under inhumane conditions while their...

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Why we Shouldn’t be Surprised the NYPD Commissioner Let Another Killer Cop off the Hook

It appeared to be a rare moment of accountability for the NYPD. In February, the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, the administrative judge who oversees the NYPD’s disciplinary trial room, found lieutenant Jonathan Rivera guilty of first-degree assault and violating department guidelines on the use of force. On October 17, 2019, then-sergeant Rivera shot and killed Allan Feliz in an altercation that began as a routine traffic stop and quickly escalated into a physical con...

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Should I Get A Real ID in New York?

You may have heard about a big rush at Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices earlier this year as people scrambled to get new, Real ID-compliant licenses. While the Real ID law is not new, some of its requirements have recently gone into effect. Here is what you need to know about the Real ID law and the kinds of licenses and ID cards available to New Yorkers. In the wake of the attacks on September 11th, 2001, there was a push to create uniform, nationwide standards for drivers licenses an...