Hillary Clinton addressed the issue of police violence and criticized the U.S. system of mass incarceration in her first major policy speech since announcing her presidential bid. Speaking at Columbia University in New York, Clinton called for all police to wear body cameras, and said harsh sentences for drug offenses should be reformed.
Hillary Clinton: “We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America. There is something profoundly wrong when African-American men are still far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than are meted out to their white counterparts. There is something wrong when a third of all black men face the prospect of prison during their lifetimes.”
Clinton’s remarks contrast sharply with statements she made as first lady, when she supported the so-called “tough-on-crime” agenda of her husband, President Bill Clinton, including a 1994 law which led to harsher sentences for drug offenses and expanded the number of prisons and police.