On November 18, 2021, the ACLU submitted written testimony to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues for his official visit to the United States. The submission focuses on the significant racial disparities in sentencing decisions in the United States and the human rights violations associated with such racial disparities.
The submission requests that the Special Rapporteur raise these violations to U.S. government officials during his visit as well as address them in his final report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. We also urged the Special Rapporteur to recommend that the U.S. government amend its sentencing laws to prevent any discriminatory impact and take other measures to rectify unjust and discriminatory sentences against Black people and members of other minority groups