4th Amendment
This document is updated regularly to include the latest federal and state caselaw from across the country discussing racial justice issues.
From the Introduction: “On January 28, 2025, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (the Center) held a training on 4th Amendment Rights for Organizations to help empower advocates and organizations that support and work alongside immigrants so they can better protect themselves throughout the fight ahead. By shoring up best practices and preparation…
From the abstract: “This Article frames the experience of traffic stops for noncitizens as a form of “slow deportation.” It describes how the use of traffic stops to police noncitizens extends the system of racialized social control to immigrant communities with the effect of surveilling both race and status. It surveys scholarship across disciplines, racial…
On August 29, 2024, the Gault Center hosted a National Youth Defense Townhall focused on the role of youth defenders in transforming the juvenile legal system. The Townhall outlined a theory of change rooted in cultivating critical connections to harness our collective power to transform systems of harm and punishment. In attendance were nearly 200…
Challenging the Status Quo: Mobilizing Youth Defense Teams to Uphold Youth Rights & Uproot Injustice
This Racial Justice Webinar was hosted by the Gault Center and Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative on May 29, 2024. The webinar focused on a collective call to action for the youth defense community to transform the juvenile legal system by centering youth and their constitutional rights to freedom, liberty, and equality. This…
School-based arrests have long made up a substantial number of cases in the juvenile legal system. This is particularly true for Black, Native/Indigenous, and Latino students; immigrant students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and other historically marginalized students. Despite significant decreases in the rate of serious crimes and violence on school campuses over the past…
From the abstract: “Since their inception in the late 1980s, zero-tolerance policies have been a cornerstone of American school discipline. Passed by legislators with the intent of protecting school children, these policies have disparately upended the education of marginalized students. School discipline of vulnerable students often paves the way to juvenile incarceration, which in turn…
This report reviews the expanding infrastructure of police surveillance in public schools and highlights the failure of AI technologies and digital surveillance in making schools safer. Further, the report discusses the harms these technologies may cause to Black and Latine youth and youth from other historically vulnerable communities. Calling on youth justice advocates, youth leaders,…
School-based arrests have long made up a substantial number of cases in the juvenile legal system. As a result, youth defenders often represent clients who have been seized, searched, or interrogated on school grounds. This guide provides a general overview of the law governing school seizures, searches, and interrogations and practice tips for challenging evidence…
This research report by the ACLU provides an overview of surveillance technology (“EdTech Surveillance”) industry in K-12 schools and critically explores the industry’s claims, the efficacy of the products, and their impacts on students and schools. The report also provides recommendations for best protecting students and promoting better surveillance technology decision-making among elected officials, school…
From the executive summary: “• Police increasingly replace stop-and-frisk practices with databases that crudely profile Black and Latinx youth based on their neighborhoods, peer groups, and clothing. • These databases ruin lives: police typecast minority youths as gang members without evidence, putting them at risk of false arrest and wrongful deportation. • Many police departments…
