Hillary Clinton and the Tragic Politics of Crime

[Bonobo]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/the-tragic-politics-of-crime/392114/

The criminal-justice policies she now denounces once helped her husband capture the White House.

Today, by contrast, Hillary Clinton is loudly repudiating the “tough on crime” policies that she and her husband once championed. Even more remarkably, prominent Republicans are nodding along.

To those who see Hillary’s new crime agenda as a flip-flop, her campaign has a rejoinder: Different policies make sense at different times. As Clinton spokesperson Jesse Ferguson tweeted, “HRC policy on internet might also be different than WJC policy in 1994. Not b/c he was wrong but b/c times change.”

The problem with this argument is that many of the crime policies the Clintons supported in the 1990s were probably wrong even back then. Yes, the crime bill did some good: It put more cops on the street and increased penalties for sex crimes. But it also helped spawn the very “era of mass incarceration” that Hillary now denounces. It’s not just that the bill allocated almost $10 billion in federal-prison construction money. It only allocated it to states that adopted “truth-in-sentencing” laws that dramatically increased the amount of time criminals served. As NYU Law School’s Brennan Center has noted, the number of states with such laws rose from five when the bill was signed to 29 by Clinton’s last year in office. Over the course of Clinton’s presidency, the number of Americans in prison rose almost 60 percent.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_Crime.htm

Longtime advocate of death penalty, with restrictions

Clinton has been a longtime advocate of the death penalty. Clinton cosponsored the Innocence Protection Act of 2003 which became law in 2004 as part of the Justice for All Act. The bill provides funding for post-conviction DNA testing and establishes a DNA testing process for individuals sentenced to the death penalty under federal law. As first lady, she lobbied for President Clinton’s crime bill, which expanded the list of crimes subject to the federal death penalty.
Source: Pew Forum on Religion and Politics 2008 , Jan 1, 2008

[morningfog]

1. I keep getting that Zappa song stuck in my head,

"Any way the wind blows, doesn't matter to me-e-e-e...."

Technically Mothers of Invention.

[Bonobo]

3. Oh, you are effin' cool! Obscure FZ references will ALWAYS score big points with me!

"You might pretend you ain't got one on the bottom of you..."

[morningfog]

4. But don't fool yourself girl...

I spent a lot of time with Zappa's music in my formative years. Such a wealth of it he left us to enjoy.

[hootinholler]

9. That was Zappa?

I thought that line came from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

[morningfog]

10. Zappa's use of the line was better:

[Thinkingabout]

2. Are we evolving yet?

[Bonobo]

5. She LOBBIED for the same shit she now DARES to try to get political credit for opposing.

Barnum was right.

[Thinkingabout]

8. What are you talking about?

[marble falls]

6. This stuff is what sours me regarding Hillary. I will vote for her if she gets the nod.

Not voting or voting a third party is a useless protest.

Until then, Bernie all the way!

[Bonobo]

7. Yes but in the meantime...

We need to try to fight for what our children deserve!

[marble falls]

16. Without a doubt.

[BrotherIvan]

11. She's evolved, why can't you forget?

You're getting sleepy, very, very sleepy.

[Bonobo]

12. .

[BrotherIvan]

13. Fuck me, that should have been in the OP

That's pretty clear in the trend.

[Bonobo]

14. Yes, that is the Clinton legacy wrt minorities as much as anything else. nt

Millions of lives destroyed for petty offenses, for the crime of trying to survive.

[davidpdx]

15. Yes it is

and it outright proves we have a problem in terms of using the lock'em up and throw away the key attitude. It simply doesn't work. I know someone who is getting out this fall after 20 years in prison.