Q to Clinton: You’re calling for an end to mass incarceration. But you supported the 1994 crime bill. Why should black people trust you to get it right this time?
A: Sen. Sanders and I both supported that bill and I think we did because there was an outcry over crime rates. As my husband said last summer, that bill helped some problems and caused others. These problems are why the first speech I gave in my campaign was on ending mass incarceration. We need body cameras, limiting mandatory minimums, ending disparities.
Don Lemon interrupts: But why should we trust you? Do you think the bill was a mistake?
A: I just said that. Some aspects have worked well, but other aspects were a mistake. That’s why I’m focused on fixing the criminal justice system, ending private prisons, ending incarceration of low-level offenders.
Q to Sanders: You voted for the bill despite expressing reservations. So, mistake?
A: There’s good and bad stuff in bills. If I voted against that bill, Clinton would be attacking me for voting against the good provisions. Violence against women, assault weapons ban. I tried to get the death penalty aspects out of that bill because I’m opposed to the death penalty. I was torn. But where we are right now is having 2.2 million people in jail. Campaign promise: at the end of my first term we will no longer have more people in prison than any other country.
[Fact: releasing every federal prisoner would still leave the US with more prisoners than the runner up.]