LOS ANGELES - In two separate rulings today, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the sentences of two non-violent repeat offenders who were sentenced to unusually long prison terms for petty theft offenses.

"Today's ruling makes clear that California voters, rather than our politicians or courts, will have to take responsibility for fixing our Three Strikes law, which is the broadest and harshest in the nation. Californians never intended to give petty, non-violent offenders the same sentences we apply to people who commit murder, rape, and other violent crimes," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU/SC.

"Our Three Strikes law has too many unintended consequences: it's profoundly unjust; it's costing us a fortune, and it's tearing families and communities apart," said Ripston. "Voters are beginning to understand what an unjust and wasteful law this is."

In fact, a public opinion poll conducted in 2002 by the firm of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates on behalf of Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS) found that 65% of likely general election voters in California would favor amending the three strikes law so that it applies only in cases of violent or serious felonies such as rape, robbery or murder.

The ACLU of Southern California is working closely with FACTS, Human Rights Watch, and other groups to fight for Three Strikes reform at the ballot box. California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg has also introduced legislation, AB 112, that would place on the ballot an initiative to limit the application of the three strikes law to violent offenders.

The American Civil Liberties Union was co-counsel in one of the two cases, California v. Andrade. Andrade was convicted of stealing $154 worth of videotapes and is currently serving a 50 year sentence. California's three strikes law was first enacted in 1994.

The ACLU of Southern California joins the Council on American-Islamic Relations in calling for a full FBI investigation of the heinous attack on Rashid Alam, an 18 year old Arab-American from Yorba Linda beaten by a mob who shouted anti-Arab and anti-Muslim epithets.

The Administration has repeatedly expressed its condemnation of hate crimes, and the Justice Department has repeatedly said it will aggressively enforce federal laws against hate crimes. Our government must keep its promises. We call on the FBI to live up to its responsibilities to the Muslim, Arab-American, South Asian and Sikh communities and, ultimately, to each one of us.

In the first few months after 9/11, in L.A. County alone, there were more than 180 reports of hate crimes against people who were, or were perceived to be, Muslim or Middle Eastern. We must send a clear message that these acts will not be tolerated. Prejudice against Arab-Americans, Muslims and South Asians undermines one of the cornerstones of our American democracy -- the fundamental principle of equality of all peoples.

Southern California is one of the most diverse regions in this nation. Truly, our strength lies in our diversity. When one of us is attacked, it is an attack on us all.

LOS ANGELES ' At a news conference held in front of the LAPD's Central Area location in the heart of skid row, the ACLU of Southern California together with Las Familias Del Pueblo, a longtime Los Angeles based advocacy group, and the Catholic Workers announced the filing of a class action lawsuit challenging the City's enforcement of a Los Angeles' ordinance that bars sleeping, sitting or lying on public sidewalks against homeless people who have no where else to go.

'The city would rather spend money to jail the homeless than give them shelter and services,' said ACLU/SC cooperating attorney, Carol Sobel. 'There is no way to avoid violating this law if you are homeless, including the mentally ill. It doesn't make sense to arrest people for sleeping on the street when they have no other option.'

It is estimated that there are 85,000 homeless in the Los Angeles area and less than 4,000 emergency shelter beds in the entire county.

'Police must stop criminalizing the homeless for engaging in life-sustaining acts, like sleeping and eating, that they must do in public because they have no home to go home to,' said Alice Callaghan with Las Familias Del Pueblo. 'In the city of Los Angeles it seems that the policy is to not provide services for the homeless but rather massive police enforcement.'

The U.S. Conference of Mayors Report of 2002 states that Los Angeles was reportedly spent only $500,000 of locally generated funds to support homeless services, a paltry amount compared to other major cities. Boston, was reported to have spent $4,600,000 in locally generated funds; Chicago spent $6,417,944; Philadelphia spent $14,304,628; Seattle, $7,629,923; and Washington, D.C. spent $13,500,000.

'The City has a crisis on its hands, one that it has failed to address for far too long,' said Dan Tokaji, ACLU/SC staff attorney. 'The City of Los Angeles cannot sweep this problem under the rug by sweeping homeless people off the street as if they were garbage. They are not garbage; they are human beings and they are our fellow citizens '

The legal complain filed today states that the city has: 'initiated a concerted campaign of arrests of the homeless for sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk when there is no other place to go, indiscriminate searches and seizures in the guise of arresting parole and probation violators who the police claim prey on the homeless, and the orchestrated destruction of personal property of people who have little and, once the City finishes with them, have nothing.'