The Justice Department released a comprehensive report that provides an overview of the Civil Rights Division’s police reform work under Section 14141 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The report, “The Civil Rights Division’s Pattern and Practice Police Reform Work: 1994-Present,” is designed to serve as a resource for local law enforcement agencies and communities by making the Division’s police reform work more accessible and transparent.
The Division recently launched a new website to make information about the Justice Department’s investigation of unsolved homicides, or “cold cases,” from the Civil Rights Era more accessible to the public. Over 50 closing memos are already available on the site. In the coming months, this website will make all Civil Rights Division closing memos available to the public in a format that is fully text-searchable. The memos can also be sorted by date of incident. We hope that these materials will be of use to researchers, historians, community leaders and members of the general public.
The Justice Department filed a statement of interest addressing the harmful effects of subjecting juvenile offenders to solitary confinement. The statement of interest was filed in V.W. et al. v. Conway et al., a class action brought by six juveniles and their parents and natural guardians to challenge the placement of youth in solitary confinement in the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse, New York.
The Justice Department filed a consent order to resolve allegations that Union Savings Bank and Guardian Savings Bank engaged in a pattern or practice of “redlining” predominantly African-American neighborhoods in and around Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and Indianapolis. “Redlining” is the discriminatory practice by banks or other financial institutions of denying or avoiding providing credit services to consumers because of the racial demographics of the neighborhood in which the consumer lives.