Flex Your Rights (Flex) is a 501(c)(3) educational
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that aims to educate the public about how basic
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
protections apply during encounters with law enforcement.
Flex Your Rights creates and distributes media that explains individuals' legal rights during a police encounter.
History
Flex was founded by Steven Silverman in 2002 and is based in Washington, D.C. Silverman, who serves as the organization's Executive Director, created Flex in response to what he perceived as widespread confusion over the basic rules of search and seizure. Silverman came to this conclusion while he worked as a campus organizer for the campaign to repeal the Higher Education Act’s aid-elimination penalty, which denies financial aid to students with drug convictions. As part of his work, Silverman prompted students to describe the details of the police stops and searches leading to their minor drug arrests.
Silverman noted a pattern during these interviews, and various legal and law enforcement experts confirmed his conclusion: The vast majority of people are mystified by the basic rules of search and seizure and due process of law. In order to ensure that constitutional rights and equal justice are upheld by law enforcement, Silverman believes we must build a constitutionally literate citizenry.
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Videos
''BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters''
In 2003, Flex secured funding from the Marijuana Policy Project
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff.
Its stated aims are to: (1) increase public support for non-pu ...
grants program to create its first docudrama
Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...
, ''BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters'', hosted by Ira Glasser
Ira Saul Glasser (born April 18, 1938) is an American civil liberties activist who served as the fifth executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1978 to 2001. His life is the subject of the 2020 documentary ''Mighty Ira ...
, past executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million.
T ...
. The film illustrates scenarios of police encountering citizens in various situations and how the relevant civil rights should be asserted in regards to the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
.
''10 Rules for Dealing with Police''
Flex has recently completed production of ''10 Rules for Dealing with Police'', a new docudrama that focuses on the concerns of communities of color.[Franklin, Neil. (2010, November 15)]
A Cop's Advice on Dealing with Cops (Slideshow)
''Huffington Post''. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
''Not Guilty: A Juror’s Guide to Protecting Good People from Bad Laws''
The next film project is a film that illustrates the various US Constitutional rights and powers of juries
A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make findings of fact, and render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Most trial juries are " petit juries", an ...
, such as the option of jury nullification
Jury nullification, also known as jury equity or as a perverse verdict, is a decision by the jury in a trial, criminal trial resulting in a verdict of Acquittal, not guilty even though they think a defendant has broken the law. The jury's reas ...
.
Controversies
In May 2010, two Norview High School teachers of Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, Virginia were placed on paid administrative leave after screening ''Busted'' to their 12th grade Government class. A parent complained to the Norview administration that her daughter had come home from school and said, "You won't believe what we are learning in Government. They are teaching us how to hide our drugs." Norview's spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said division leaders are currently investigating the incident over concerns that the materials were unauthorized.
Activism
Flex collaborates with community activists to fight new policing schemes that violate citizens' Bill of Rights protections. Successes include victories against D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty
Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2011.
A Washington, D.C. native, Fenty graduated from Oberlin College and Howard University Law School, then ser ...
's Safe Homes Initiative and an attempt by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...
to implement random searches of Metro passengers.
References
External links
*{{official website, http://www.flexyourrights.org
BUSTED Official Video
Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States
Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Civil rights organizations in the United States