Clinton: Baltimore shows justice system ‘out of balance’

Bradenton Herald ^ | 4-29-2015 | KEN THOMAS and JILL COLVIN, ap

[Citizen Zed]

“It’s time to change our approach,” Clinton said in her first major policy address since launching her presidential campaign earlier this month. “It’s time to end the era of mass incarceration.”

Clinton spoke in the days after violence and protests have swept through the streets of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal-cord injury while in police custody.

In a speech at Columbia University, Clinton spoke of protests over policing in Ferguson, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; and in New York, and repudiated policies dating to her husband Bill Clinton’s presidency that lengthened prison terms while putting more officers on the streets. “We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population,” she said. “We don’t want to create another incarceration generation.”

She voiced support for alternative punishments for lower-level offenders and the need to address substance abuse and mental illness, which she said came up repeatedly during her recent campaign trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton also cited what she described as an “unmistaken and undeniable” pattern of violence against unarmed black men in the country and the unfairness of black men being more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms.

“We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America,” Clinton said.

Criminal justice reform, however, should not be placed in a silo and separated from a lack of economic and educational opportunities in many communities, Clinton said. And many people suffer the consequences of roughly 1.5 million “missing African-American men” who are imprisoned, making them unable to care for their children or provide for their families.

[Verginius Rufus]

So her “champion of the middle class” slogan has fallen flat. Now her winning slogan for 2016 will be “let all the black criminals out of prison.”

[Verginius Rufus]

So her “champion of the middle class” slogan has fallen flat. Now her winning slogan for 2016 will be “let all the black criminals out of prison.”

[Senator_Blutarski]

IIRC, the intent of the current laws was to reduce crime on the streets. Results matter, and by locking up repeat offenders the crime rate in many inner city neighborhoods was substantially reduced.

The easiest way to increase crime in poor neighborhoods is to keep the criminals out of jail.

Perhaps they should focus on changing the behavior of the criminals rather than simply looking the other way.

[SunkenCiv]

• Hillary Clinton Wants to Unite Economic and Criminal Justice Reform
• BREAKING: Hillary Clinton's Campaign Hires Everytown for Gun Safety Campaign Manager
• HILLARY: There's an 'undeniable' pattern in police-involved deaths across the US
• Hillary Clinton calls for overhaul of crime policies put in place under Bill Clinton
• Hillary Clinton Wades Into Baltimore: 'It's Time to End the Era of Mass Incarceration'
• CNN Analyst: Obama Used "Racist" Term Describing Baltimore Rioters as "Thugs"
• President Obama, Media Laugh at Racist Cop Jokes While Baltimore Riots Rage
• CNN Anchor Brooke Baldwin Blames Military Veterans For Baltimore Riots
• Jesse Jackson: 'The police wagon became a tomb'

[dfwgator]

"YOU'RE OUT OF ORDER..THEY'RE OUT OF ORDER!!!!"

(BTW that movie took place in Baltimore)

[Mariner]

Those 1.5million are in prison because they committed crimes.

Heck, it's hard to get INTO prison nowdays without committing a violent crime.

That said, why does nobody in the media question these platitudes?

Why not just ask: When somebody commits a violent crime, if not prison, what should society do?

Are there particular FEDERAL crimes you would remove from the books? As you know the overwhelming majority of prison time is served in STATE prison for the violation of STATE crimes.

Should the Federal government dictate to the states what actions are crimes and what the punishments would be?

[Mariner]

"The idea of reducing the prison population through alternative sentences isn’t a bad one."

I don't agree.

The problem is there are too many crimes. And, the penalty for those crimes is far, far too lenient.

[dfwgator]

Like Richard Pryor said, “Thank God We Got Penitentiaries.”

[JoeFromSidney]

I think we need more people in jail, not fewer. Every one of those rioters should be locked up.