ArchCity Defenders

Thanks to voter-approved Amendment 3, Missouri residents will be able to legally use marijuana recreationally in the state, and thousands of people will be able to expunge criminal convictions.

A federal court recently said detaining people without a warrant is fraught with constitutional risk. Why do police in St. Louis County keep doing it?

Individuals who were fined, faced arrest or spent time in jail because they could not pay between 2013 and 2021 are eligible to sign up for compensation.

Thousands of people whom Normandy police jailed, fined or filed a warrant against between 2013 and 2021 can receive money from a $1.3 million class-action settlement. People who are eligible have until Aug. 26 to join the suit.

ArchCity’s Fatal State Violence project found that from 2009 to 2019, at least 132 people have been killed by police in the St. Louis region. The group uses the analysis to support their calls to action.

Inmates at St. Louis’ primary jail filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing guards of torturing inmates with mace and depriving them of water for days.

Action St. Louis and Arch City Defenders will host a town hall for renters at 6 p.m. today. Renters from the St. Louis area can speak with housing advocates about housing issues, eviction questions and how to build a tenant-led housing movement in St. Louis.

St. Louis attorneys and activists say judges are often denying defendants bond entirely after the Missouri Supreme Court in 2019 made it harder for courts to detain people on cash bail pretrial. “It’s a classic case of the system recalibrating and in some ways achieving many of the same results,” said Blake Strode, executive director of civil rights law firm ArchCity Defenders.

Attorneys claim in a lawsuit that corrections officers regularly abused three current and former inmates at the St. Louis City Justice Center. The federal lawsuit filed Monday claims that City Justice Center staff violated the constitutional rights of the inmates by using tear gas on them and depriving them of water.

ArchCity Defenders has launched a new guide to help St. Louisans facing evictions represent themselves in court. “Representing Yourself When Facing Eviction” explains the types of eviction lawsuits and how to prepare for court.