Southern New Hampshire American Civil Liberties Union Discussion
Review the “Issues” tab on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) home page.
In your initial post, identify one of the social issues on this site that pertains to a crime and violence topic. Review the goals of the ACLU as an organization. Explain why the issue fits within the goals of the ACLU and reflect on the stance that the ACLU is taking on that particular issue.
In response to your peers, find a reliable source online (not in the Shapiro Library and not necessarily academic—i.e., any source, by anyone) that takes a credible position on your peer’s chosen ACLU issue. Examples of sources you can consider are news articles, opinion pieces, reputable blogs, vlogs, or podcasts, or any other source that is founded on critical thinking and reliable research. Share a link to the source and identify why you believe the source is credible and useful.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document
Peer 1
The main goal of the ACLU is to defend and preserve the rights and and liberties granted by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. There are a total of 18 social issues that the ACLU deals with.
The issue I selected was juvenile justice. We treat children like children when it works best for us, but when it comes to the justice system, we want to treat them the same as adults. This is an issue because children are still developing and should not be in the same justice system as an adult. Juveniles need to focus more on rehabilitation than punishment. The ACLU is working with local and national partners to end juvenile life sentences without the possibility of parole. The ACLU is also working to end solitary confinement for juveniles.
Peer 2
The topic I chose from the website that relates to crime and violence is school-to-prison pipeline under the juvenile justice section. The topic of juvenile justice has always been interesting to me, so I looked into it further and saw school-to-prison pipeline. I hadn’t heard of this issue before viewing the website.
The ACLU advocates for young people and is disturbed that they are “funneled out of schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems” (ACLU, 2019). They are educated on the fact that many of these children have been through abuse, neglect, have disabilities, etc. so their mission to advocate for these young people amazes and intrigues me. They believe children will benefit from educational and other services instead of being sent to detention centers.
