Mike Pence vice presidential campaign, 2016/Crime and justice

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Mike Pence
Republican vice presidential nominee
Running mate: Donald Trump

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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

See what Mike Pence and the 2016 Republican Party Platform said about crime and justice.

Pence on crime and justice

On September 24, 2016, Pence addressed about 200 Christian coalition members of the House School Legal Defense Association in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He called for a full investigation of the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by a Charlotte police officer. He also encouraged the group to pray for Charlotte, Scott's family, and law enforcement. On the protests in Charlotte prompted by the shooting, Pence said, “no one has the right to engage in acts of violence against property of persons” in the U.S.^[1]

At a pastors' roundtable in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on September 22, 2016, Pence said there was too much discussion of "institutional racism and institutional bias" following the police shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina. "We ought to set aside this talk, this talk about institutional racism and institutional bias," he said, calling such terminology "rhetoric of division." When Bishop John Brannon, who is black, asked Pence what he would "personally do" to heal national divides, Pence said, "When there's any loss of life, we have to speak with compassion, we have to make it clear that there will be a thorough investigation and that justice will be served and that high standards will be upheld."^[2]

In an interview on September 20, 2016, MSNBC's Brian Williams asked Mike Pence for his reaction to the police shooting of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pence responded by commending the first responders to the New Jersey and New York bombings that took place the previous weekend. He continued, "I think the American people can be proud of our law enforcement community and their efforts in this regard. And obviously when an incident like this takes place, we fully support a thorough investigation of what took place. You know the fact of the matter is that police officers are human beings and they make mistakes. And when mistakes are made, they should be held to the strictest account. But what I find offensive is when Hillary Clinton and others refer to implicit bias or institutional bias within the ranks of our law enforcement community broadly. The men and women who serve in law enforcement in this country, Brian, whether they be white, or African American, or Latino, Hispanic, or Asian, these men and women are the best of us and they are dedicated to the safety and security of our families."^[3]
Read what the 2016 presidential candidates and other vice presidential candidates said about crime and justice.

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on crime and justice

“

Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: Criminal Justice and Prison Reform

The men and women of law enforcement — whether patrolling our neighborhoods or our borders, fighting organized crime or guarding against domestic terror — deserve our gratitude and support. Their jobs are never easy, especially in crisis situations, and should not be made more difficult by politicized second-guessing from federal officials. The current Administration’s lack of respect for them, from White House intervention in local arrests to the Attorney General’s present campaign of harassment against police forces around the country, has been unprecedented. With all Americans, we mourn those whom we have lost to violence and hatred. To honor their sacrifice, we recommit ourselves, as individuals and as a party, to the rule of law and the pursuit of justice.

The conduct of the Department of Justice has included refusal to enforce laws, stonewalling congressional committees, destroying evidence, reckless dealing with firearms that led to several deaths on both sides of our border, and defying a citation for contempt. It has urged leniency for rioters while turning a blind eye to mob attacks on peaceful citizens exercising their political rights. A new administration must ensure the immediate dismissal and, where appropriate, prosecution of any Department officials who have violated their oath of office.

The next president must restore the public’s trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law himself. Additionally, the next president must not sow seeds of division and distrust between the police and the people they have sworn to serve and protect. The Republican Party, a party of law and order, must make clear in words and action that every human life matters. Two grave problems undermine the rule of law on the federal level: Over-criminalization and over-federalization. In the first case, Congress and federal agencies have increased the number of criminal offenses in the U.S. Code from 3,000 in the early 1980s to more than 4,500 today. That does not include an estimated 300,000 regulations containing criminal penalties. No one, including the Department of Justice, can come up with accurate numbers. That recklessness is bad enough when committed by Congress, but when it comes from the unelected bureaucrats of the federal agencies, it is intolerable. The power of career civil servants and political appointees to criminalize behavior is one of the worst violations of constitutional order perpetrated by the administrative state.

To deal with this morass, we urge caution in the creation of new “crimes” and a bipartisan presidential commission to purge the Code and the body of regulations of old “crimes.” We call for mens rea elements in the definition of any new crimes to protect Americans who, in violating a law, act unknowingly or without criminal intent. We urge Congress to codify the Common Law’s Rule of Lenity, which requires courts to interpret unclear statutes in favor of a defendant.

The over-federalization of criminal justice is one of many ways in which the government in Washington has intruded beyond its proper jurisdiction. The essential role of federal law enforcement personnel in protecting federal property and combating interstate crime should not be compromised by diversion to matters properly handled by state and local authorities.

We applaud the Republican Governors and legislators who have been implementing criminal justice reforms like those proposed by our 2012 platform. Along with diversion of first-time, nonviolent offenders to community sentencing, accountability courts, drug courts, veterans treatment courts, and guidance by faith-based institutions with proven track records of rehabilitation, our platform emphasized restorative justice to make the victim whole and put the offender on the right path. As variants of these reforms are undertaken in many states, we urge the Congress to learn from what works. In the past, judicial discretion about sentences led to serious mistakes concerning dangerous criminals. Mandatory minimum sentencing became an important tool for keeping them off the streets. Modifications to it should be targeted toward particular categories, especially nonviolent offenders and persons with drug, alcohol, or mental health issues, and should require disclosure by the courts of any judicial departure from the state’s sentencing requirements.

The constitutionality of the death penalty is firmly settled by its explicit mention in the Fifth Amendment. With the murder rate soaring in our great cities, we condemn the Supreme Court’s erosion of the right of the people to enact capital punishment in their states. In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving serious injury to law enforcement officers.

We call on the Congress to make the federal courts a model for the rest of the country in protecting the rights of victims and their families. They should be told all relevant information about their case, allowed to be present for its trial, assured a voice in sentencing and parole hearings, given access to social and legal services, and benefit from the Crime Victims Fund established under President Reagan for that sole purpose.

Public officials must regain control of their correctional institutions, some of which have become ethnic and racial battlegrounds. Persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates. Courts should not tie the hands of prison officials in dealing with these problems. We encourage states to offer opportunities for literacy and vocational education to prepare prisoners for release to the community. Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are prisoners. Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, youngsters from these families should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions.

The internet must not become a safe haven for predators. Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being. We applaud the social networking sites that bar sex offenders from participation. We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, which is closely linked to human trafficking.^[4]

”

—2016 Republican Party Platform^[5]

Recent news

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Mike Pence vice presidential campaign, 2016/Crime and justice - Google News

Footnotes

↑ The Washington Post, "The Latest: Pence calls for Charlotte shooting investigation," September 25, 2016
↑ Politico, "Pence: There's too much talk of police department 'racism,'" September 22, 2016
↑ MSNBC, "Mike Pence reacts to Tulsa police shooting," September 20, 2016
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016

[1] The Washington Post, "The Latest: Pence calls for Charlotte shooting investigation," September 25, 2016

[2] Politico, "Pence: There's too much talk of police department 'racism,'" September 22, 2016

[3] MSNBC, "Mike Pence reacts to Tulsa police shooting," September 20, 2016

[quotedisclaimer-4] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[5] Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016

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Mike Pence vice presidential campaign, 2016/Crime and justice

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