Clinton
calls for drug sentencing reforms, end to racial profiling
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[October 31, 2015]
(Reuters) - Democratic presidential
front-runner Hillary Clinton called on Friday for a series of criminal
justice reforms that include a ban on racial profiling by law
enforcement and elimination of sentencing disparities for crack and
powder cocaine offenses.
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At a campaign event in Atlanta, Clinton also promised to sign an
order to "ban the box," prohibiting federal employers and
contractors from asking about criminal histories at the initial
application stage. The change would give job seekers a chance to
first prove their qualifications.
"People who have paid their dues to society need to be able to find
jobs," Clinton said at a rally at Clark Atlanta University, where
she rolled out an "African Americans for Hillary" group and had
lunch with a group of black ministers. "We believe in second
chances, don't we?"
The proposals were designed to appeal to black voters who will play
a crucial role in her campaign for the Democratic Party nomination
in the November 2016 election against closest challenger Bernie
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont.
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Clinton was interrupted briefly by protesters from the Black Lives
Matter movement, but pressed on with her speech. The protesters were
eventually removed.
She promised to back legislation to ban federal, state and local law
enforcement from relying on ethnicity when initiating routine
investigations, and change sentencing rules so crack and powder
cocaine convictions are treated the same.
All of the changes are aimed at laws that Clinton said
disproportionately hurt minorities. Currently, those convicted of
using crack face far steeper penalties than powder users.
"We're talking about two forms of the same drug," she said. "It
makes no sense to treat them differently."
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Crack, the smoked "hard" form of cocaine, is cheaper than the
usually snorted powder version and is more widespread in
lower-income communities. Government data from 2009 showed nearly 80
percent of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses were black.
Powder cocaine users tend to be white.
Sanders said he agreed with Clinton's initiative on ending
sentencing disparities but any "serious" criminal justice reform
should include his proposal to remove marijuana from the list of the
most dangerous drugs outlawed by the federal government, a step
Clinton has not endorsed.
"We must recognize that blacks are four times more likely than
whites to get arrested for marijuana possession, even though the
same proportion of blacks and whites use marijuana," Sanders said in
a statement.
(Reporting by John Whitesides and Amanda Becker; Editing by
Christopher Cushing and Grant McCool)
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