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Clinton has come
under increasing pressure from activists, including the
influential Black Lives Matter movement, to address issues of
racial justice. She has been repeatedly heckled by members of
the movement at campaign events, and she has been criticized for
not speaking more directly on racial justice.
Issues around mass incarceration and criminal justice
disproportionately affect African Americans, with black men six
times as likely as white men to be incarcerated in the United
States, according to the Pew Research Center.
Among the changes Clinton will propose are reducing mandatory
minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, granting judges
more discretion in applying those minimums and changing the
so-called "strike" system that dictates when to apply certain
minimum sentences.
She has previously called for criminal justice reforms that
include a ban on racial profiling by law enforcement and the
elimination of sentencing disparities for crack and powder
cocaine offenses.
The former secretary of state has faced a challenge from
socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders but remains the strong
front-runner for the Democratic nomination to the November 2016
election.
In a five-day rolling Reuters/IPSOS poll dated November 3,
Clinton received support from 59 percent of respondents, in
contrast to 26 percent for Sanders.
(Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Christian Plumb)
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