Dems debate criminal justice reform

The Democratic presidential candidates raised the issue much more often during their first debate on October 13. Here’s what each of the candidates said and where they stand on various reform proposals.

Bernie Sanders: When Sanders talks about criminal justice reform, he often frames it as an economic issue, and specifically about income inequality and a lack of good jobs. This had led some to conclude that Sanders doesn’t like to talk about criminal justice reform.

But Sanders raised the issue more than any other candidate on Tuesday. In his introduction, Sanders noted that the U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country, a point he repeated later in the debate. He also said “that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe — just maybe — we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids.”

Later, when asked about legalizing recreational marijuana use, he said that too many lives are destroyed for non-violent offenses and deplored a justice system that lets CEOs walk away and jails drug offenders. Sanders said that the country must think through its war on drugs and rethink its criminal justice system.

Hillary Clinton: Clinton raised criminal justice reform a couple of times, noting that she has talked at length about tackling mass incarceration. She spoke out in support of police officers using body cameras and was the only candidate to note that criminal justice reform is a bipartisan issue.

As Sanders did, when Clinton was asked about marijuana use, she spoke more broadly about the need to stop imprisoning low-level offenders, including those who use marijuana.

Reformers say Clinton has a lot to answer for because of her previous stated support for tough-on-crime legislation in the 1990s, including the 1994 crime bill President Clinton signed that pushed states to incarcerate more people.

Jim Webb: In his introduction, Webb said that he “brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion.” Later he said that he risked his political life by raising criminal justice reform and that his advisers told him at the time that he was committing political suicide by doing so.

Webb has long prioritized criminal justice reform. In 2009, he introduced legislation that would have created the first comprehensive national review of crime policy in 45 years.

Martin O’Malley: The closest O’Malley got to talking about justice reform was to defend his eight years as mayor of Baltimore and his policy of zero tolerance policing and cutting down on violent drug crime. He has come under fire for enacting policies as mayor of Baltimore that led to a surge in prison rates in that city. It is somewhat suprising that O’Malley mentioned only his Baltimore legacy because he has a comprehensive criminal justice reform agenda that includes ending the death penalty, addressing overcrowding in prisons and restoring the voting rights of ex-felons.

Lincoln Chafee: Chafee hasn’t said much about criminal justice reform so far in the campaign, other than stating his opposition to the death penalty. True to form, he was the only candidate who didn’t mention it during the debate.

There are an estimated 2.2 million people in state and federal prisons and jails. There are another 4.7 million people on probation or parole, as well as an estimated 6 million former prisoners residing in the country. On top of that, there are millions of family members of current and former prisoners. That’s tens of millions of Americans who have been directly affected by America’s criminal justice system — a system that, as Clinton said, many people on both sides of the political aisle say is broken. They and their advocates will be looking for more about this important set of issues in the remaining five Democratic and ten Republican debates.

Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner