Research & Publications

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Research & Analysis

Out of Step: U.S. Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective

The Sentencing Project, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union today released a new report, “Out of Step: U.S. Policy on Voting Rights in Global Perspective,” revealing that the United States is out of step with the rest of the world in disenfranchising large numbers of citizens based on criminal convictions.

As of 2022, over 4.4 million people in the United States were disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, and thousands more eligible voters were unable to cast their ballot due to their incarceration status.

The report examines the laws of 136 countries around the world with populations of 1.5 million and above, and finds that the majority — 73 of the 136 — never or rarely deny a person’s right to vote because of a criminal conviction. In the other 63 countries, where some laws deny the right to vote in broader sets of circumstances, the United States sits at the top of the restrictive end of the spectrum, disenfranchising a wider swath of people overall.

Issue Areas: Voting Rights

Research & Analysis

Trump on Abortion

The ACLU examines how a second Trump administration would further imperil abortion access and reproductive rights nationwide – and our roadmap to fight back.

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Issue Areas: Reproductive Freedom

Research & Analysis

Deadly Failures: Preventable Deaths in U.S. Immigrant Detention

Deadly Failures: Preventable Deaths in U.S. Immigration Detention, a new research report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and American Oversight, provides a comprehensive examination of the deaths of 52 people who died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody from 2017-2021. Based on a review of over 14,500 pages of documents and independent medical expert reviews, the report exposes the ways in which the Department of Homeland Security has failed to conduct rigorous investigations, impose meaningful consequences, or improve conditions that cause immigrants to die in ICE detention. Report analysis also incorporates the review of ICE’s own investigatory reports into deaths in custody by independent medical experts, as well as interviews with two family members of people who died in ICE detention during the studied period. The report concludes with actionable recommendations for Department of Homeland Security, Congress, and state/local governments.

Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights


Research & Analysis

Trump on LGBTQ Rights

In the second installment of the ACLU’s election 2024 memo series, our experts detail the threats a potential second Trump administration poses to the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people.

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