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2016 presidential candidates on stop and frisk

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2016 Presidential Election
Date: November 8, 2016

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Winner: Donald Trump (R)
Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

The debate over stop-and-frisk policing reached the national stage on September 26, 2016, when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump discussed its efficacy and constitutionality during the first presidential debate. The policing tactic, which first gained attention in the 1960s, generally involves law enforcement stopping, questioning, and potentially frisking pedestrians on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

Supporters of stop-and-frisk policing point to declining crime rates as evidence that the tactic improves safety. Its opponents argue that crime rates were already in decline and that the policy unconstitutionally targets young black and Latino men.[1][2]

Read below what the 2016 candidates and their respective party platforms said about stop-and-frisk policing.

Interested in reading more about the 2016 candidates' stances on related issues? Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about the Constitution, gun control, the Black Lives Matter movement, and crime and justice.

OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS
  • Hillary Clinton (D) called stop-and-frisk policing "ineffective" and "unconstitutional," and proposed that pedestrian stops should be based on probable cause rather than reasonable suspicion.
  • Donald Trump (R) said that stop-and-frisk policing tactics "had a tremendous impact on the safety of New York City" and advocated its use in Chicago.
  • Jill Stein (G) called stop-and-frisk policing "a flagrant case of racial profiling" and ineffective.
  • Gary Johnson (L) described stop-and-frisk policing as "civil liberties out the window."
  • Democratic candidate

    Democratic Party Hillary Clinton

    caption
    • During the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton called stop-and-frisk policing "ineffective." She said, "There are the right ways of doing it [keeping people safe], and then there are ways that are ineffective. Stop-and-frisk was found to be unconstitutional and, in part, because it was ineffective. It did not do what it needed to do."[3]
    • During a campaign event on gun violence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in April 2016, Clinton expressed skepticism of stop-and-frisk tactics. “I do think the evidence people use to justify stop-and-frisk doesn’t hold up under scrutiny," she said. Clinton added that police "should be looking for probable cause.” She suggested that stop-and-frisk policies could continue in a limited form under her criminal justice plan. “Some people will be stopped, but it will not be the kind of wholesale stopping you have seen in too many places," she said.[4]
    • Clinton spoke at the National Bar Association’s commemoration of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on January 31, 2016, where she said that one of the courageous acts of the late U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) was his fight against stop-and-frisk policing in the 1960s.[5]
    • Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on crime and justice.

    Republican candidate

    Republican Party Donald Trump

    caption
    • During the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016, Donald Trump was asked what he would do to improve race relations in the United States. He said that "law and order" was necessary and suggested stop-and-frisk tactics could be one method to reduce crime in cities like Chicago. When moderator Lester Holt said that the policy had been ruled unconstitutional, Trump rejected this assertion, saying the case "would have won on appeal." He later criticized Hillary Clinton for her opposition to stop-and-frisk tactics. "I think maybe there's a political reason why you can't say it, but I really don't believe -- in New York City, stop-and-frisk, we had 2,200 murders, and stop-and-frisk brought it down to 500 murders. Five hundred murders is a lot of murders. It's hard to believe, 500 is like supposed to be good? But we went from 2,200 to 500. And it was continued on by Mayor Bloomberg. And it was terminated by current mayor. But stop-and- frisk had a tremendous impact on the safety of New York City. Tremendous beyond belief. So when you say it has no impact, it really did. It had a very, very big impact," he said.[8]
    • In a Fox News interview on September 21, 2016, Trump responded to a question about what he would do to cut down on inner-city crime by advocating the use of stop-and-frisk policing. He said, “I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well. And you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically. You understand. You have to have – in my opinion, I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk, in New York City, it was so incredible, the way it worked. Now, we had a very good mayor. But New York City was incredible the way that worked. So I think that would be one step you could do.” A federal judge ruled stop-and-frisk unconstitutional in 2013.[9] The next day, Trump clarified that he was talking specifically about the city of Chicago, telling "Fox and Friends," "Chicago is out of control, and I was really referring to Chicago with stop-and-frisk. They asked me about Chicago, and I was talking about stop-and-frisk for Chicago."[10]
    • Trump discussed his approach to crime control during an appearance before the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune on June 29, 2015. When he was asked to clarify what "being tough" on crime consisted of, Trump said, "You have to be tough. It means going in there, and just, you've gotta be tough. And you maybe have to go after stop-and-frisk stuff, which by the way it's going up in New York without the stop-and-frisk. You may have to go there in—you need tough cookies. These are tough kids. These are not babies. These are tough, tough kids. If they saw you walking down the street, they wouldn't give a damn about you. You gotta be tough. You can't be so gentle with these people."[11]
    • Read more of Donald Trump's public statements on crime and justice.

    Green candidate

    Green Party Jill Stein

    Jill-Stein-circle.png
    • Participating in Democracy Now's "Expand the Debate" program on September 27, 2016, Jill Stein responded to Donald Trump's support for stop-and-frisk policing in the first presidential debate. She said, "Stop-and-frisk was indeed unconstitutional and was indeed a flagrant case of racial profiling. It’s also true that it was not effective. In fact, crime rates were dropping in cities all over the country while they were also dropping in New York. So, to attribute that to stop-and-frisk, which was not causing the reduction around the country, is just wrong thinking."[13]
    • Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

    Libertarian candidate

    Libertarian Party Gary Johnson

    Gary-Johnson-(New Mexico)-circle.png
    • Gary Johnson criticized Donald Trump for his support of stop-and-frisk policing in a statement released on September 27, 2016, in response to the first presidential debate. He wrote, "Americans believe in the Constitution and the protections it’s supposed to provide. Mr. Trump appears willing to ‘frisk’ those protections away if they get in the way of his version of fixing things."[15]
    • In an interview on RT's "The Alyona Show" in April 2012, Johnson was critical of the use of stop-and-frisk tactics in New York City. He said, "Stop-and-frisk policies in New York: 700,000 New Yorkers have been stopped in the last year and basically searched. And we're not talking about getting on an airplane here. We're talking about on the streets of New York. And Mayor Bloomberg had criticism for Arizona's law [SB 1070]. Said it was going to lead to racial profiling. Well, I have got to tell you, in New York, I think racial profiling is going on right now with regard to the whole stop and frisk. Isn't this why we fought wars when it comes to protecting our civil liberties? Well, this is civil liberties out the window."[16]
    • Read more of Gary Johnson's public statements on crime and justice.

    Recent news

    The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 presidential candidates on stop and frisk. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. The New York Times, "What Donald Trump Got Wrong on Stop-and-Frisk," September 27, 2016
    2. The Washington Post, "Donald Trump claims New York’s stop-and-frisk policy reduced crime. The data disagree," September 22, 2016
    3. The Washington Post, "The first Trump-Clinton presidential debate transcript, annotated," September 26, 2016
    4. TIME, "Hillary Clinton Says Evidence For Stop-and-Frisk ‘Doesn’t Hold Up,'" April 20, 2016
    5. Hillary Clinton for President, "Remarks from the 60th anniversary commemoration of the Montgomery Bus Boycott," January 31, 2016
    6. Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
    7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    8. The Washington Post, "The first Trump-Clinton presidential debate transcript, annotated," September 26, 2016
    9. CBS News, "Trump gives tepid answer on birtherism; says he supports stop-and-frisk," September 22, 2016
    10. The Chicago Tribune, "Trump urges stop-and-frisk for Chicago, a practice attacked as racial profiling," September 22, 2016
    11. The Chicago Tribune, "Trump addresses Chicago crime: 'You need tough cookies,'" June 29, 2015
    12. Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
    13. Democracy Now, "Expanding the Debate: Jill Stein 'Debates' Clinton & Trump in Democracy Now! Special - Part 1," September 27, 2016
    14. Green Party, "The 2016 Green Party Platform on Social Justice," accessed September 27, 2016
    15. Facebook, "Gary Johnson: My Statement on the First Presidential Debate," September 27, 2016
    16. YouTube, "The Alyona Show 4/25/12," April 26, 2012
    17. Libertarian Party, "The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform," accessed August 24, 2016