Regional Program: United States
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Caught on Camera: Police Violence in the U.S.
For this project we created a series of articles, resources and case studies exploring the role of video in exposing abuses and attaining accountability and justice. There are also practical tips for activists and bystanders on safely filming and sharing videos of police misconduct.
Profiling the Police
This project looks at new ways to use eyewitness video and open source data to expose abuses by some NYPD and begin to illustrate how police abuse is part of a larger systemic problem. It includes our learnings and tips and tools for organizing, analyzing and preserving human rights video collections to help ensure greater transparency and accountability.
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
Eyes on ICE
This project offers a deep dive into how to safely, ethically and effectively film immigration abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Border Patrol, and others through tipsheets, case studies, videos, and more.
Filming Immigration Enforcement
Filming encounters with immigration enforcement can expose human rights abuses, deter violence, substantiate reports and serve as evidence. But if the footage isn’t captured safely and ethically, it can put people at risk.
LEGAL VIDEO ADVOCACY
Legal Video Advocacy
To help reduce the massive U.S. prison population and to promote human dignity and growth over punishment and retribution, this project aims to support advocates, lawyers, and incarcerated individuals in using video to seek parole, clemency and sentencing mitigation.
WATCH: Using Video for Clemency & Parole – Small Steps Towards Decarceration
Rachel Goodman, a graduate of the CUNY Law Defenders Clinic and Staff Attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services, talks about the impact of using video to advocate for her clients seeking parole and clemency.
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
Eyes in the Sky: Drones at Standing Rock and the Next Frontier of Human Rights Video
This report examines how activists and journalists used drones to document the protests by Native American tribes and other advocates against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Video as Evidence: Documenting Standing Rock
This guide was created to help water protectors, activists and legal experts strengthen the evidentiary value of video documentation captured at Standing Rock.
LGBTQ RIGHTS
Filming Hate
With reports of hate-related acts on the rise, it’s important to know what you can do as a witness. This resource offers some basic tips on safely and effectively filming and reporting incidents of hate.
Capturing Hate: Analyzing Eyewitness Videos of Violence Against Transgender People
This report collects and analyzes videos of violence against transgender people in the U.S., uploaded and shared not as documentation of human rights abuses, but as entertainment.
Select Past WITNESS work in the U.S.
TRUST: Fighting for Climate Justice (2010)
An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in the U.S. (2009)
Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition in the War on Terror (2006)
Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border (2005)
System Failure: Violence, Abuse and Neglect in the California Youth Authority (2004)
Books Not Bars (2001)
Behind the Labels (2001)
Day after Diallo (2000)
See all of the resources we’ve tailored for the U.S. in the WITNESS Library!
