Issues

New Jerseyans’ fundamental right to reproductive autonomy, including abortion, must be protected and expanded to ensure every person who can become pregnant has equitable and comprehensive access to reproductive health care.

America’s criminal legal system is rooted in excessively punitive policies that have resulted in over-criminalization, mass incarceration, and racial injustice, with the brunt of harms disproportionately falling on people of color, as well as immigrants, people with low-incomes, and LGBTQ+ people.

The ACLU-NJ has made significant progress in decarcerating the Garden State, having been instrumental in New Jersey’s groundbreaking elimination of cash bail and in advocating for the early release of thousands of people nearing the end of prison sentences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ACLU-NJ advocates for a government that is accountable to the people and for access to the tools that will allow people to participate fully in public life.

The ACLU-NJ strives to ensure that people with disabilities are able to live with dignity and free from discrimination. Our goal is for New Jersey to be a place where people with physical and mental disabilities or illnesses are integrated members of society with full access to education, homes, health care, jobs, voting, and beyond.

Discrimination in all its forms, whether overt or subtle, is harmful to all of us, and is far too often ingrained in law and policy. The ACLU-NJ works to protect New Jerseyans from all forms of discrimination to ensure that everyone has equal access to opportunity.

The ACLU-NJ was instrumental in decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana in the state, and our recommendations helped lead to one of the most forward-looking frameworks for cannabis reform in the country, with a strong emphasis on racial and social justice.

The ACLU-NJ has worked since its founding in 1960 to protect and defend these freedoms by defending protesters, challenging censorship, protecting student speech, fighting for public information, and so much more.

Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, the ACLU-NJ pushes for change and systemic reform in institutions that perpetuate discrimination based on gender and sexuality, especially in employment, health care, education, and the criminal legal system.