News & Commentary

With this toolkit, the ACLU seeks to provide greater clarity in the context of a shifting federal policy landscape ahead of the 2025-2026 academic year.

Every community should have meaningful oversight of their police department. We wrote a letter with the Rutland Area NAACP urging the Bennington Select Board to empower their civilian oversight board to review specific police misconduct complaints.

Meaningful change in the American legal system begins with a recognition that the entire system is built on systemic racism and classism, and policies that perpetuate the same. That includes cash bail.

This year showed us that we are still at a critical juncture in this country, as we continue to face unprecedented attacks on our rights and our values. With your support, the ACLU is still holding the line and working towards a better tomorrow.

We've made progress towards reducing our overreliance on incarceration -- but we cannot afford to go backwards now.

Although the 2022 legislative session is still several months away, there are ways that you can advance racial justice, privacy rights, criminal legal reform, and other civil rights and civil liberties issues right now.

The ACLU of Vermont & The Rutland Area NAACP sent a letter to the Bennington Select Board to provide comment on the town's proposed police oversight task force for Bennington Police Department. As proposed, this task force will not lead to meaningful police oversight or much needed change in Bennington's police department. Read or download the letter below to learn more.

Vermont is overpoliced, and more so every year. That statement may be surprising or even jarring to some, but it is based on a growing body of data collected by Vermont police themselves.

All students deserve to attend schools where they are safe, supported, and respected. But right now, our definition of safety in school only applies to some students and not others. It's time to remove armed cops from our schools.