Hillary Clinton calls for changes to justice system
In response to a wave of racial unrest in the United States, most recently in Baltimore, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called for a major overhaul of the criminal justice system, including requiring the use of body cameras at police departments and an end to mass incarceration.
“We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America,” Clinton said in her first policy speech as a candidate for president in 2016.
In her somber 30-minute remarks, Clinton described what she called the unfair treatment of black men in America, who are more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms.
“We must urgently begin to rebuild the bonds of trust and respect among Americans,” said Clinton, delivering the keynote address at the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University in New York.. “Between police and citizens, yes, but also across society.”
Clinton spoke about recent clashes in Ferguson, Mo.; Charleston, S.C., Cleveland, New York City and Baltimore, which continues to be gripped by violence after the death of a 25-year-old black man Freddie Gray from a spinal injury suffered while he was in police custody.
“What we’ve seen in Baltimore should, indeed does, tear at our soul,” he said. “And, from Ferguson to Staten Island to Baltimore, the patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable.”
“Yet again, the streets of an American city are marred by violence. By shattered glass and shouts of anger and shows of force,” she said. “Yet again a community is reeling, its fault lines laid bare and its bonds of trust and respect frayed. Yet again, brave police officers have been attacked in the line of duty.”
In her speech, which echoed Obama’s remarks Tuesday, she praised police officers who have been attacked and criticized protestors who she said are setting back the cause of justice.
“Let’s remember that everyone in every community benefits when there is respect for the law and when everyone in every community is respected by the law,” she said.
Clinton called for changes to probation and drug diversion programs, increased treatment for mental health and drug addiction and pursuing alternative sentences for lesser offenses, specifically those committed by young people.
Some of her proposals strike at the heart of policies implemented by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who in the 1990s put more officers on the streets, lengthened prison terms and authorized billions of dollars for prison construction, among other things.
Clinton has been criticized by some for not laying out specific policy proposals in her campaign, now two-and-half weeks old. Her campaign staff announced that she would deliver the New York speech late Tuesday afternoon, though she accepted the invitation last in November. She previously spoke at the same event in 2001 on education.
“Let me clear: This is not a campaign stop and we are not campaigning,” said Dinkins, a former mayor of New York, before joking he expects to at the next inauguration.
Clinton is the overwhelming front-runner for her party’s nomination, but she will face some competition. Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, will announce he is running for president as a Democratic Thursday. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to announce he is running next month. O’Malley, a former mayor of Baltimore, cut a trip to Europe short to return to Baltimore after the protests erupted.
Both of Clinton’s proposals _ the use body cameras and the end to mass incarcerations _ have been embraced by President Barack Obama as well as other Democrats. In a speech last month, O’Malley called for body cameras and mandatory reporting of police brutality and excessive force to the FBI.
In December, Obama asked Congress for $75 million to help states buy 50,000 more body-worn cameras. Lawmakers never acted on the proposal.
Clinton said a task force on policing created by Obama provided “a good place to start” but in some cases could go further. She did not say how she would pay for body cameras or other proposals.
Individual cameras can cost in the range of $800 to $1,200. Thirty-nine percent of agencies responding to a Justice Department-funded study of police cameras by the Police Executive Research Forum identified price as a primary reason for not ordering the cameras.
Clinton said she was heartened that changes to the criminal justice system had found some bipartisan consensus on Capitol, singling out the efforts of four senators of both parties, including fellow -presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
“It is rare to see Democrats and Republicans agree on anything today. But we’re beginning to agreeing on this: We need to restore balance to our criminal justice system.”
But Paul in a statement after her speech blamed the explosion of the prison system under Bill Clinton to blame.
“Not only is Hillary Clinton trying to undo some of the harm inflicted by the Clinton administration, she is now emulating proposals introduced by Senator Rand Paul over the last several years, and we welcome her to the fight,” his campaign said.
Clinton closed
And please join me in saying a prayer for the family of Freddie Gray, and all the men whose names we know and those we don’t who have lost their lives unnecessarily and tragically. And in particular today, include in that prayer the people of Baltimore and our beloved country.
This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 7:04 AM.