The Racial Justice Project is a legal advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the constitutional and civil rights of people who have been denied those rights on the basis of race and to increase public awareness of racism and racial injustice in the areas of education, employment, political participation, and criminal justice. The Racial Justice Project’s advocacy includes litigation, training, and public education.

The Project is actively engaged in three initiatives:

Collateral sanctions resource guide: Upon being released from prison, ex-offenders face “collateral sanctions”—a vast and increasing maze of mandatory exclusions from valuable social programs and employment opportunities that impede their hopes of success in the free world. The collateral sanctions resource guide compiles these consequences and discusses how they could impact the ex-offender. The guide is intended as a resource for both ex-offenders and advocates.

Education litigation: The Project has partnered with the National Legal Department of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation to challenge educational equity and racial disparities in graduation rates. The Project assists the ACLU with the development, filing, and prosecution of the suit.

Street Law project:This year, the NYLS Racial Justice Project teamed up with the non-profit organization, Groundwork, Inc. (www.groundworkinc.org)–which identifies small areas with high rates of poverty within Brooklyn and develops programs to serve the youth that live there–to bring law students and inner-city middle and high school students together. The law students will share their knowledge about the law and educate the younger Groundwork students about their legal rights. Further, the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson LLP has partnered with the Law School as well in an effort to teach the middle and high school students about the legal profession. The purposes of the Street Law program include teaching practical law as it affects laypersons in their daily lives; developing a positive attitude on the part of students toward law and the legal system; improving critical thinking and problem solving skills; examining moral and ethical values; and exposing students to vocational opportunities within the legal system. The substantive focus of this year's curriculum is the Fourth Amendment. In particular, the curriculum addresses the protections afforded to youth both in the public domain and within the walls of a public school. More then twenty-five New York Law School students have trained as Street Law volunteers, and they made their first visit to the Groundwork site in East New York on Friday, March 28.

PRESS RELEASE—March 18, 2008

New York Law School Racial Justice Project and ACLU File First-of-its-Kind Case Against Florida School District for Low High School Graduation Rates

Charging that shamefully low high school graduation rates demonstrate a violation of students’ constitutional right to a high quality education, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Law School Racial Justice Project filed a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit today against the Palm Beach County School District. It is estimated that as many as one in three Palm Beach County students does not graduate on time with a regular diploma, a figure that is well below both the state and national averages. This case is the first legal challenge in the country that focuses on the issue of low graduation rates and that requires a school district to graduate more of its students.

The case, Schroeder, et al. v. The Palm Beach County School Board, filed on behalf of parents and students in the district, charges that the Palm Beach County School District violates the state constitution’s declaration of the “fundamental value” of educating children and the right that free public education be “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality.” The plaintiffs are not seeking additional funding or any specific remedial measures, only that the school district improve its graduation rates without pushing students out of the system. The lawsuit also seeks to put in place a uniform and reliable graduation rate calculation that accurately accounts for every student enrolled in Palm Beach County’s high schools. Currently, there are multiple, inconsistent graduation rate measures that are inaccurate and inflated.

In addition to low graduation rates among all students in Palm Beach County, there is a significant disparity between the graduation rates of African-American and Hispanic students and those of white students. For the past five years, the gap between black and white graduation rates has remained approximately 30 percentage points, while the gap between Hispanic and white graduation rates has been about 20 percentage points. According to the legal challenge, the stark difference in graduation rates along racial lines is evidence enough of the school district’s constitutional violations. The lawsuit, however, aims to improve the graduation rates for all students enrolled in Palm Beach County.

High school dropouts are far more likely than graduates to be unemployed, in prison and living in poverty. A recent independent study reported last week in the Washington Post showed that high school dropouts in the District of Columbia stand to lose $615 million in lifetime earnings compared to graduates. The study also found that the city would save more than $20 million in health care costs if D.C.’s high school dropouts graduated.

To download a copy of the legal complaint as a PDF, click here.