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Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016/Crime and justice
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This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Read what Hillary Clinton and the 2016 Democratic Platform said about crime and justice.
| CANDIDATE SUMMARY | |
Clinton on crime and justice
- Speaking at a church in North Carolina on October 3, 2016, Hillary Clinton discussed gun violence and improving police-community relations. She said that police officers should receive training on implicit bias and called for the release of the Charlotte police shooting video of Keith Lamont Scott. "I’m a grandmother, and like every grandmother, I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers, who have different and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face," she said.[2]
- During a rally in Orlando, Florida, on September 21, 2016, Clinton commented on the police shooting deaths of two black men, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott. "There is still much we don’t know about what happened in both incidents. But we do know that we have two more names to add to a list of African Americans killed by police officers in these encounters. It’s unbearable. And it needs to become intolerable," she said.[3]
- Clinton spoke at the NAACP’s annual convention in Cincinnati on July 18, 2016, where, in response to the police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the Dallas and Baton Rouge attacks on police officers, she said, “This madness has to stop.” Clinton said she would “bring the full weight of the law to bear in making sure those who kill police officers are brought to justice. There can be no justification, no looking the other way.” Clinton also noted the importance of improving the criminal justice system. “There is, as you know so well, another hard truth at the heart of this complex matter: Many African-Americans fear the police,” Clinton said.[4]
- Responding to the deadly shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge on July 17, 2016, Clinton said in a statement, “Today's devastating assault on police officers in Baton Rouge is an assault on all of us. There is no justification for violence, for hate, for attacks on men and women who put their lives on the line every day in service of our families and communities.”[5]
- Clinton discussed the sniper attack on Dallas law enforcement in an interview on July 8, 2016. “This is deeply troubling and it should worry every single American. You know, we have got to do much more to listen to one another, respect each other,” she said. In the wake of Dallas and the shooting deaths of two black Americans by police officers, Clinton added that the country must “support our police and support innocent Americans that have deadly encounters with police." She recommended stronger national guidelines for the use of deadly force by police.[6]
- In an interview with The Huffington Post on June 15, 2016, Clinton discussed several domestic issues, including the Stanford sexual assault case. Clinton said, “I have read the statement given by the victim. I was struck by its heartbreaking power. It took great courage, and I think she has done an important service for others. What I’ve heard about this case is deeply concerning. It is clear campus sexual assault continues to be a serious problem. And I’ve said before and I will continue to say, it is not enough to condemn it. We must find ways to end it.”[7]
- Clinton wrote an op-ed for CNN on April 27, 2016, to highlight the conditions incarcerated women face in prison. She made the following policy proposals: “First, we need to reform policing practices, end racial profiling, and eradicate racial disparities in sentencing. Second, we need to promote alternatives to incarceration, particularly for nonviolent and first-time offenders, so families aren't broken up. We need to improve access to high-quality treatment for substance abuse, inside and outside the prison system, because drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, not a crime — and we need to treat it as such. And third … I will institute gender-responsive policies in the federal prison system and encourage states to do the same—because women follow different paths to crime than men, and face different risks and challenges both inside and outside the prison walls, and every part of the justice system, from sentencing to the conditions of confinement to re-entry services, should reflect women's unique needs.”[8]
- During a Democratic presidential town hall on March 13, 2016, Clinton was questioned by an exonerated death row inmate who spent 39 years in prison. He asked her how she could support capital punishment given the documented cases of innocent people being executed. Clinton responded, "I've said I would breathe a sigh of relief if either the Supreme Court or the states themselves began to eliminate the death penalty.” She also criticized the states, saying that they “have proven themselves incapable of carrying out fair trials that give defendants the rights that defendants should have." Clinton concluded, "Where I end up is this, and maybe it's a distinction that is hard to support, but at this point, given the choices we face from terrorist activities primarily in our country that end up under federal jurisdiction, for very limited purposes, I think it can still be held in reserve for those."[9]
- During a campaign fundraiser on February 24, 2016, Ashley Williams, a Black Lives Matter activist, was escorted out of the event after she held up a sign that read, “We have to bring them to heel,” in reference to a statement Clinton made in 1996 about at-risk black youth. Williams wanted to know why Clinton “called black youth ‘superpredators.’” On February 25, Clinton said, “In that speech, I was talking about the impact violent crime and vicious drug cartels were having on communities across the country and the particular danger they posed to children and families. Looking back, I shouldn’t have used those words, and I wouldn’t use them today. My life’s work has been about lifting up children and young people who’ve been let down by the system or by society. Kids who never got the chance they deserved. And unfortunately today, there are way too many of those kids, especially in African-American communities. We haven’t done right by them. We need to. We need to end the school to prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-to-college pipeline. As an advocate, as First Lady, as Senator, I was a champion for children. And my campaign for president is about breaking down the barriers that stand in the way of all kids, so every one of them can live up to their God-given potential.”[10]
- At the sixth Democratic presidential primary on February 11, 2016, Hillary Clinton talked about reducing the incarceration rate of black men: “[W]e have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities.”[11]
- During the fifth Democratic primary debate on February 4, 2016, Clinton discussed her support for capital punishment: “Yes, I do. And — you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line.I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome.”[12]
- At the fourth Democratic presidential primary debate on January 17, 2016, Hillary Clinton talked about her approach to address the drug epidemic: “Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery.”[13]
- During the fourth Democratic presidential primary debate on January 17, 2016, Clinton called for revamping the criminal justice system: “Well, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear [sic] to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men.”[14]
- On December 2, 2015, Clinton called for an independent federal inquiry of the Chicago Police Department after the death of Laquan McDonald. Her campaign released the following statement: “Hillary Clinton is deeply troubled by the shooting of Laquan McDonald and the outstanding questions related to both the shooting and the video. Mayor Emanuel’s call for a task force to review practices of the Chicago Police Department is an important step, but given the gravity of this tragic situation, she supports a full review by the Department of Justice.”[15]
- Clinton proposed loosening restrictions on marijuana in South Carolina on November 7, 2015, saying that she would like to reschedule the drug in order to spur research. She said, "What I do want is for us to support research into medical marijuana because a lot more states have passed medical marijuana than have legalized marijuana, so we have got two different experiences or even experiments going on right now. The problem with medical marijuana is there is a lot of anecdotal evidence about how well it works for certain conditions. But we haven't done any research. Why? Because it is considered that is called a schedule one drug and you can't even do research in it." She added, "I would like to move it from what is called Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 so that researchers at universities, National Institutes of Health can start researching what is the best way to use it, how much of a dose does somebody need, how does it interact with other medications."[16]
- On November 6, 2015, Clinton said, as president, she would call for a series of criminal justice reforms, including reducing mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, granting judges more discretion in applying those minimums, and changing the strike system that dictates when to apply certain minimum sentences.[17]
- On November 2, 2015, Clinton met privately in Chicago with family members of African-American youths who were killed in shootings, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice. “We have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance,” she said.[18]
- Clinton addressed sexual assault on college campuses at a campaign event at the University of Northern Iowa on September 14, 2015. She said, “Rape is a crime wherever it happens. Schools have an obligation—a legal obligation and a moral obligation—to protect every student’s right to get an education free from discrimination, free from fear.” Clinton’s proposals included “more comprehensive on-campus resources for survivors, fairer investigative and disciplinary processes for both accusers and the accused, and increased preventative education.”[19]
- On September 1, 2015, Clinton wrote an op-ed in The New Hampshire Union Leader on how she would address substance abuse issues. “My plan sets five goals: empower communities to prevent drug use among teenagers; ensure every person suffering from addiction can obtain comprehensive treatment; ensure that all first responders carry naloxone, which can stop overdoses from becoming fatal; require health care providers to receive training in recognizing substance use disorders and to consult a prescription drug monitoring program before prescribing controlled substances; and prioritize treatment over prison for low-level and nonviolent drug offenders, so we can end the era of mass incarceration,” Clinton said.[20]
- During her 2000 Senate campaign, Clinton supported the death penalty.[21]
- Read what other 2016 presidential candidates said about crime and justice.
| The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on crime and justice | ||||||
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ CNN, "Hillary Clinton launches second presidential bid," April 12, 2015
- ↑ Reuters, "Clinton: My worries are not the same as black grandmothers,'" October 3, 2016
- ↑ Hillary Clinton for President, "In Orlando, Clinton Vows to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities," September 21, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "'Madness Has to Stop,' Hillary Clinton Declares at NAACP Conference," July 18, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Obama on Baton Rouge: We need to 'temper our words and open our hearts'," July 18, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Clinton: Dallas shootings 'deeply troubling'," July 8, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Transcript: Hillary Clinton’s Interview With The Huffington Post," June 15, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Hillary Clinton: Women and prison -- the cost in money and lives," April 27, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Exonerated former death row inmate challenges Clinton on capital punishment," March 14, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Hillary Clinton on ‘superpredator’ remarks: ‘I shouldn’t have used those words’," February 25, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript: The Democratic debate in Milwaukee, annotated," February 11, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Transcript of the Democratic Presidential Debate," February 5, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The 4th Democratic debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 17, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The 4th Democratic debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 17, 2016
- ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, "Sweet: Hillary Clinton calls for federal probe of Chicago Police Department," December 2, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Hillary Clinton proposes loosening restrictions on marijuana," November 7, 2015
- ↑ NBC News, "In new Crime Policy, Hillary Clinton Embraces Obama Agenda," November 6, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Clinton meets with Trayvon Martin's family," November 2, 2015
- ↑ Yahoo, "Hillary Clinton pledges to tackle campus sexual assault," September 14, 2015
- ↑ New Hampshire Union Leader, "Another View – Hillary Clinton: How we can win the fight against substance abuse," September 1, 2015
- ↑ New York Times, “Mrs. Clinton Vows Fight on Issues and Image," February 6, 2000
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
