2016 Presidential Candidates On Crime And Justice

2016 Presidential Election
Date: November 8, 2016

Candidates
Winner: Donald Trump (R)
Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

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This page was current as of the 2016 election.

See below what the 2016 candidates and their respective party platforms said about crime and justice.

Interested in reading more about the 2016 candidates' stances on issues related to crime and justice? Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about civil liberties, gun control, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Democratic ticket[edit]

Hillary Clinton[edit]

Speaking at a church in North Carolina on October 3, 2016, Hillary Clinton discussed gun violence and improving police-community relations. She said that police officers should receive training on implicit bias and called for the release of the Charlotte police shooting video of Keith Lamont Scott. "I’m a grandmother, and like every grandmother, I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers, who have different and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face," she said.^[1]

During a rally in Orlando, Florida, on September 21, 2016, Clinton commented on the police shooting deaths of two black men, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott. "There is still much we don’t know about what happened in both incidents. But we do know that we have two more names to add to a list of African Americans killed by police officers in these encounters. It’s unbearable. And it needs to become intolerable," she said.^[2]

Clinton spoke at the NAACP’s annual convention in Cincinnati on July 18, 2016, where, in response to the police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the Dallas and Baton Rouge attacks on police officers, she said, “This madness has to stop.” Clinton said she would “bring the full weight of the law to bear in making sure those who kill police officers are brought to justice. There can be no justification, no looking the other way.” Clinton also noted the importance of improving the criminal justice system. “There is, as you know so well, another hard truth at the heart of this complex matter: Many African-Americans fear the police,” Clinton said.^[3]

Responding to the deadly shooting of police officers in Baton Rouge on July 17, 2016, Clinton said in a statement, “Today's devastating assault on police officers in Baton Rouge is an assault on all of us. There is no justification for violence, for hate, for attacks on men and women who put their lives on the line every day in service of our families and communities.”^[4]

Clinton discussed the sniper attack on Dallas law enforcement in an interview on July 8, 2016. “This is deeply troubling and it should worry every single American. You know, we have got to do much more to listen to one another, respect each other,” she said. In the wake of Dallas and the shooting deaths of two black Americans by police officers, Clinton added that the country must “support our police and support innocent Americans that have deadly encounters with police." She recommended stronger national guidelines for the use of deadly force by police.^[5]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Leading Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson endorsed Hillary Clinton in an editorial for The Washington Post on October 26, 2016. He wrote, "Clinton’s platform on racial justice is strong: It is informed by the policy failings of the past and is a vision for where we need to go. It acknowledges the need to establish new restrictions on police use of force and militarization, invest in treatment and rehabilitation as alternatives to police and prisons, and protect and expand the right to vote." In contrast, McKesson asserted, "Trump wants to take us back to a time when people like him could abuse others with little to no consequence, when people like him could exploit the labor of others to build vast amounts of wealth, when people like him could create public policy that specifically benefited them, while suppressing the rights and social mobility of others."^[6]

On September 21, 2016, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook discussed Clinton's plan to implement a set of best practices to prevent police-involved shootings. According to Mook, her approach would be two-pronged. Mook told CNN's Alisyn Camerota, "The first is to have a set of national standards around how to manage the situations that doesn't exist right now and that could help through training to prevent situations like this." Mook continued, "The second piece is to restore bonds between communities and law enforcement, so investing in community policing and making sure that local police have the resources to build the resources in the community to prevent something like this from happening."^[7]

On September 20, 2016, Clinton said that there were "good, honorable, cool-headed police officers" working across the country but that "we can do better." She added, "We have got to tackle systemic racism." Discussing the police shooting death of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she said, "This is just unbearable. And it needs to be intolerable."^[7]

In response to the police shooting death of Philando Castile, which was recorded and published in a Facebook Live video stream, Clinton tweeted on July 7, 2016, “America woke up to yet another tragedy of a life cut down too soon. Black Lives Matter.”^[8]

On October 30, 2015, Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted Hillary Clinton’s speech in Atlanta at a historically black college. After they were removed from the room, Clinton said, “I appreciate their passion, but I'm sorry they didn't listen because some of what they're demanding, I am offering."^[9]

Clinton met with Black Lives Matter activists on October 9, 2015, to discuss criminal justice reform and alternatives to law enforcement-centered policing of communities. An aide to Clinton said that she “reaffirmed her policy on private prisons and immigrant detention centers—she wants to end those.”^[10]

On August 11, 2015, Clinton met with representatives from the Black Lives Matter movement after she hosted and spoke at a forum on substance abuse in New Hampshire.^[11] The activists, including Daunasia Yancey, the founder of Black Lives Matter's Boston chapter, were denied access to the event because the room was at capacity.^[12]^[13] Clinton spoke with the activists for 15 minutes. Yancey said of the discussion, "I asked specifically about her and her family's involvement in the War on Drugs at home and abroad, and the implications that has had on communities of color and especially black people in terms of white supremacist violence. And I wanted to know how she felt about her involvement in those processes.”
- Although the Black Lives Matter members requested that the media not record the conversation, they filmed their own video of the exchange and released it on August 17, 2015.^[14] Clinton expressed her disagreement with the movement's approach. "Look, I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not going to change every heart. You're not. But at the end of the day, we could do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential," Clinton said.^[13]^[12]

Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on crime and justice and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on crime and justice

“

Reforming our Criminal Justice System

Democrats are committed to reforming our criminal justice system and ending mass incarceration. Something is profoundly wrong when almost a quarter of the world’s prison population is in the United States, even though our country has less than five percent of the world’s population. We will reform mandatory minimum sentences and close private prisons and detention centers. Research and evidence, rather than slogans and sound bites, must guide criminal justice policies.

We will rebuild the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Across the country, there are police officers inspiring trust and confidence, honorably doing their duty, deploying creative and effective strategies, and demonstrating that it is possible to prevent crime without relying on unnecessary force. They deserve our respect and support, and we should learn from those examples and build on what works.

We will work with police chiefs to invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the creation of national guidelines for the appropriate use of force. We will encourage better police-community relations, require the use of body cameras, and stop the use of weapons of war that have no place in our communities. We will end racial profiling that targets individuals solely on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin, which is un-American and counterproductive. We should report national data on policing strategies and provide greater transparency and accountability. We will require the Department of Justice to investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings, and we will support states and localities who help make those investigations and prosecutions more transparent, including through reforming the grand jury process. We will assist states in providing a system of public defense that is adequately resourced and which meets American Bar Association standards. And we will reform the civil asset forfeiture system to protect people and remove perverse incentives for law enforcement to “police for a profit.”

Instead of investing in more jails and incarceration, we need to invest more in jobs and education, and end the school-to-prison pipeline. We will remove barriers to help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter society by “banning the box,” expanding reentry programs, and restoring voting rights. We think the next President should take executive action to ban the box for federal employers and contractors, so applicants have an opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications before being asked about their criminal records.

The 'war on drugs' has led to the imprisonment of millions of Americans, disproportionately people of color, without reducing drug use. Whenever possible, Democrats will prioritize prevention and treatment over incarceration when tackling addiction and substance use disorder.

We will build on effective models of drug courts, veterans’ courts, and other diversionary programs that seek to give nonviolent offenders opportunities for rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration.

Because of conflicting federal and state laws concerning marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from the list of “Schedule 1" federal controlled substances and to appropriately regulate it, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization. We believe that the states should be laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize it or provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so. We support policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty. And we recognize our current marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact in terms of arrest rates for African Americans that far outstrip arrest rates for whites, despite similar usage rates.

We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America. The application of the death penalty is arbitrary and unjust. The cost to taxpayers far exceeds those of life imprisonment. It does not deter crime. And, exonerations show a dangerous lack of reliability for what is an irreversible punishment.

We have been inspired by the movements for criminal justice that directly address the discriminatory treatment of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians to rebuild trust in the criminal justice system.^[15]^[16]

”

The 2016 Democratic Party Platform on ending systemic racism

“	Ending Systemic Racism Democrats will fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society. We will challenge and dismantle the structures that define lasting racial, economic, political, and social inequity. Democrats will promote racial justice through fair, just, and equitable governing of all publicserving institutions and in the formation of public policy. Democrats support removing the Confederate battle flag from public properties, recognizing that it is a symbol of our nation's racist past that has no place in our present or our future. We will push for a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and that there is no place for racism in our country.^[16]	”
—2016 Democratic Party Platform^[17]

Tim Kaine[edit]

A longtime supporter of criminal justice reform, Kaine co-sponsored the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. The bipartisan compromise bill aimed "to reduce over-criminalization and over-incarceration without compromising the safety of communities." It would reduce certain mandatory minimum sentences, expand recidivism reduction programs such as the prison work program, and allow judges more discretion in sentencing.^[18]

Following an October 15, 2015, roundtable discussion with ex-offenders about criminal justice reform and the challenges of re-entry, Kaine said, “My takeaways from today’s discussion were, first, we need to determine what educational programs can keep kids on the right track and off the wrong track. Second, we should provide more opportunities for those within the federal, state and local prison systems to learn and improve themselves. Third, let’s make sure that there is advice for people – including where to go for help and where to find helpful rehabilitation programs – right before they leave the prison system. Fourth, once people are out of prison, what can we do as a society to make it easier for them to vote or get a job? And lastly, let’s make sure we are supporting organizations that have proven programs that keep people from falling back onto the wrong path.”^[18]

Kaine is personally opposed to the death penalty, but he presided over 11 executions while governor of Virginia because he said he was sworn to uphold the law. He commuted one death sentence to life in prison after concluding that the inmate was "mentally unfit" for execution.
- As governor, Kaine blocked all legislative efforts to expand the death penalty in Virginia.^[19]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Addressing a gathering of the National Urban League in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 4, 2016, Tim Kaine highlighted his work fighting "redlining," a practice used by banks to deny home loans to black mortgage applicants in some neighborhoods. Kaine also said, "If English lives in history matter, if Spanish lives in history matter, then African-American lives in history ought to matter to us too. African-American history matters because black lives matter."^[20]

In an interview following the National Urban League event, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said that Kaine "realizes the pain. He may not be able to fully feel the pain, but he realizes there’s pain. And I don’t know that Trump even realizes there’s pain with regard to the African-American community and what we’ve been through.”^[20]

Read more of Tim Kaine's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

Republican ticket[edit]

Donald Trump[edit]

At a campaign event in Colorado on September 22, 2016, Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, discussed police shootings in Oklahoma and North Carolina. He said, “Donald Trump and I believe there's been far too much of this talk of institutional bias or racism within law enforcement. That police officers are human beings. In difficult and life threatening situations, mistakes are made and people have to be held to strict account. … we ought to set aside this talk about institutional racism and institutional bias.”^[21]

Donald Trump commented on the police shooting deaths of two black men, Terence Crutcher in Oklahoma and Keith Lamont Scott in North Carolina, in mid-September 2016.
- At a campaign event in Ohio on September 21, 2016, Trump commented on Crutcher’s death, saying, “I must tell you, I watched the shooting in particular in Tulsa and that man was hands up, that man went to the car -- hands up -- put his hand on the car. To me, it looked like he did everything you're supposed to do. And he looked like a really good man -- and maybe I'm a little clouded because I saw his family talking about him after the fact ... but he looked like somebody who was doing what they were asking him to do. This young officer, I don't know what she was thinking. I don't know what she was thinking, but I'm very, very troubled by that and we have to be very careful. Did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened? But people that choke, maybe they can't be doing what they're doing.”^[22]
- Regarding rioting in the city of Charlotte that followed the death of Scott, Trump said in an interview on "Fox and Friends" on September 22, 2016, “There's a lack of spirit between the white and the black. It's a terrible thing that we're witnessing. There's a lack of something. Something is going on that's bad. What's going on between police and others is getting worse. You have to have law and order. At the same time, you have to have a level of spirit, a level of unity. There's no unity. You look at the level of hatred, the rocks being thrown.”^[23] At a campaign event in Pennsylvania on September 22, Trump said, “If you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night. … There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct. Crime and violence is an attack on the poor and will never be accepted in a Trump administration. Never, ever.”^[24]

In a Fox News interview on September 21, 2016, Trump responded to a question about what he would do to cut down on inner-city crime by advocating the use of stop-and-frisk, a policing technique known for its use in New York City. He said, “I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well. And you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically. You understand. You have to have – in my opinion, I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk, in New York City, it was so incredible, the way it worked. Now, we had a very good mayor. But New York City was incredible the way that worked. So I think that would be one step you could do.” A federal judge ruled stop-and-frisk unconstitutional in 2013.^[25] The next day, Trump clarified that he was talking specifically about the city of Chicago, telling Fox and Friends, “Chicago is out of control, and I was really referring to Chicago with stop-and-frisk. They asked me about Chicago, and I was talking about stop-and-frisk for Chicago.”^[26]

At a campaign event in North Carolina on September 20, 2016, Trump discussed African American communities and inner-city crime, saying, “African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they've ever been in before. Ever, ever, ever.” He added, “You take a look at the inner cities, you get no education, you get no jobs, you get shot walking down the street. They're worse, I mean honestly, places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities. And I say to the African-American communities, and I think it's resonating, because you see what's happening with my poll numbers with African Americans. They're going, like, high. With the inner cities I say to the African American people who have to suffer in these inner cities, I'm going to fix it, I'm going to fix it. We're going to fix it.”^[27]

At a campaign event in Iowa on August 27, 2016, Trump said, “I’ve spoken a lot in recent days about the deplorable conditions in many of our inner cities. As a father, as a builder, as an American, it offends my sense of right and wrong to see anyone living in such conditions. Almost 40 percent of African-American children are living in poverty – including 45 percent of children under the age of six. … Failed Democratic policies – the policies of Hillary Clinton – have created this high crime and crushing poverty. … I am running to offer a better future – to the citizens of Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and all across this great land.”^[28]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Read more of Donald Trump's public statements on crime and justice.

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on crime and justice

“

Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: Criminal Justice and Prison Reform

The men and women of law enforcement — whether patrolling our neighborhoods or our borders, fighting organized crime or guarding against domestic terror — deserve our gratitude and support. Their jobs are never easy, especially in crisis situations, and should not be made more difficult by politicized second-guessing from federal officials. The current Administration’s lack of respect for them, from White House intervention in local arrests to the Attorney General’s present campaign of harassment against police forces around the country, has been unprecedented. With all Americans, we mourn those whom we have lost to violence and hatred. To honor their sacrifice, we recommit ourselves, as individuals and as a party, to the rule of law and the pursuit of justice.

The conduct of the Department of Justice has included refusal to enforce laws, stonewalling congressional committees, destroying evidence, reckless dealing with firearms that led to several deaths on both sides of our border, and defying a citation for contempt. It has urged leniency for rioters while turning a blind eye to mob attacks on peaceful citizens exercising their political rights. A new administration must ensure the immediate dismissal and, where appropriate, prosecution of any Department officials who have violated their oath of office.

The next president must restore the public’s trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law himself. Additionally, the next president must not sow seeds of division and distrust between the police and the people they have sworn to serve and protect. The Republican Party, a party of law and order, must make clear in words and action that every human life matters. Two grave problems undermine the rule of law on the federal level: Over-criminalization and over-federalization. In the first case, Congress and federal agencies have increased the number of criminal offenses in the U.S. Code from 3,000 in the early 1980s to more than 4,500 today. That does not include an estimated 300,000 regulations containing criminal penalties. No one, including the Department of Justice, can come up with accurate numbers. That recklessness is bad enough when committed by Congress, but when it comes from the unelected bureaucrats of the federal agencies, it is intolerable. The power of career civil servants and political appointees to criminalize behavior is one of the worst violations of constitutional order perpetrated by the administrative state.

To deal with this morass, we urge caution in the creation of new “crimes” and a bipartisan presidential commission to purge the Code and the body of regulations of old “crimes.” We call for mens rea elements in the definition of any new crimes to protect Americans who, in violating a law, act unknowingly or without criminal intent. We urge Congress to codify the Common Law’s Rule of Lenity, which requires courts to interpret unclear statutes in favor of a defendant.

The over-federalization of criminal justice is one of many ways in which the government in Washington has intruded beyond its proper jurisdiction. The essential role of federal law enforcement personnel in protecting federal property and combating interstate crime should not be compromised by diversion to matters properly handled by state and local authorities.

We applaud the Republican Governors and legislators who have been implementing criminal justice reforms like those proposed by our 2012 platform. Along with diversion of first-time, nonviolent offenders to community sentencing, accountability courts, drug courts, veterans treatment courts, and guidance by faith-based institutions with proven track records of rehabilitation, our platform emphasized restorative justice to make the victim whole and put the offender on the right path. As variants of these reforms are undertaken in many states, we urge the Congress to learn from what works. In the past, judicial discretion about sentences led to serious mistakes concerning dangerous criminals. Mandatory minimum sentencing became an important tool for keeping them off the streets. Modifications to it should be targeted toward particular categories, especially nonviolent offenders and persons with drug, alcohol, or mental health issues, and should require disclosure by the courts of any judicial departure from the state’s sentencing requirements.

The constitutionality of the death penalty is firmly settled by its explicit mention in the Fifth Amendment. With the murder rate soaring in our great cities, we condemn the Supreme Court’s erosion of the right of the people to enact capital punishment in their states. In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving serious injury to law enforcement officers.

We call on the Congress to make the federal courts a model for the rest of the country in protecting the rights of victims and their families. They should be told all relevant information about their case, allowed to be present for its trial, assured a voice in sentencing and parole hearings, given access to social and legal services, and benefit from the Crime Victims Fund established under President Reagan for that sole purpose.

Public officials must regain control of their correctional institutions, some of which have become ethnic and racial battlegrounds. Persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates. Courts should not tie the hands of prison officials in dealing with these problems. We encourage states to offer opportunities for literacy and vocational education to prepare prisoners for release to the community. Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are prisoners. Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, youngsters from these families should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions.

The internet must not become a safe haven for predators. Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being. We applaud the social networking sites that bar sex offenders from participation. We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, which is closely linked to human trafficking.^[16]

”

—2016 Republican Party Platform^[29]

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on Black Lives Matter
The 2016 Republican Party Platform does not mention the Black Lives Matter movement.^[30]

Mike Pence[edit]

On September 24, 2016, Pence addressed about 200 Christian coalition members of the House School Legal Defense Association in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He called for a full investigation of the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by a Charlotte police officer. He also encouraged the group to pray for Charlotte, Scott's family, and law enforcement. On the protests in Charlotte prompted by the shooting, Pence said, “no one has the right to engage in acts of violence against property of persons” in the U.S.^[31]

At a pastors' roundtable in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on September 22, 2016, Pence said there was too much discussion of "institutional racism and institutional bias" following the police shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina. "We ought to set aside this talk, this talk about institutional racism and institutional bias," he said, calling such terminology "rhetoric of division." When Bishop John Brannon, who is black, asked Pence what he would "personally do" to heal national divides, Pence said, "When there's any loss of life, we have to speak with compassion, we have to make it clear that there will be a thorough investigation and that justice will be served and that high standards will be upheld."^[32]

In an interview on September 20, 2016, MSNBC's Brian Williams asked Mike Pence for his reaction to the police shooting of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pence responded by commending the first responders to the New Jersey and New York bombings that took place the previous weekend. He continued, "I think the American people can be proud of our law enforcement community and their efforts in this regard. And obviously when an incident like this takes place, we fully support a thorough investigation of what took place. You know the fact of the matter is that police officers are human beings and they make mistakes. And when mistakes are made, they should be held to the strictest account. But what I find offensive is when Hillary Clinton and others refer to implicit bias or institutional bias within the ranks of our law enforcement community broadly. The men and women who serve in law enforcement in this country, Brian, whether they be white, or African American, or Latino, Hispanic, or Asian, these men and women are the best of us and they are dedicated to the safety and security of our families."^[33]
Read more of Mike Pence's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

Green candidate[edit]

Jill Stein[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

On October 12, 2016, Stein tweeted, "Training police in the style of Israeli Defense Forces must end if we'd like to move away from occupation-style policing. #BlackLivesMatter."^[34]
Jill Stein took to Twitter to convey her thoughts on the police shooting death of Terence Crutcher.

On September 19, 2016, Stein tweeted, "The baseless assumptions and callousness towards #TerenceCrutcher before he was shot dead are indicative of systematic bias that has to end." She also wrote, "We need an investigation into the killing of #TerenceCrutcher at the hands of police. #BlackLivesMatter."^[35]
On September 21, 2016, Stein tweeted, “When police officers are being actively investigated for a civilian death they should not be rewarded with paid leave or desk-duty.” She also wrote, “Police forces should always be deeply reviewing personnel records and screening excessive force complaints of transferring officers.”^[36]

"For #BlackLivesMatter and racial justice issues, our campaign has been on the front line working with these communities. I've just come from San Francisco where I canvassed with two members of the 'Frisco 5' who conducted a 17-day hunger strike that actually got rid of the police chief. We need to challenge power if we are to really to create change.”^[37]
Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

The 2016 Green Party Platform on racial discrimination

“

2. Racial Discrimination

a. The development of the United States has been marked by conflict over questions of race. Our nation was formed only after Native Americans were displaced. The institution of slavery had as its underpinnings the belief in white supremacy, which we as Greens condemn. In slavery's aftermath, people of color have borne the brunt of violence and discrimination. The Green Party unequivocally condemns these evils, which continue to be a social problem of paramount significance.

b. The community of people of African ancestry whose family members were held in chattel slavery in what is now the United States of America have legitimate claims to reparations including monetary compensation for centuries of human rights violations, including the Transatlantic slave trade now recognized by the United Nations as a "crime against humanity." As our Nation has done in the past with respect to the Choctaw, the Lakota, the Lambuth, and more recently for Japanese Americans and the European Jewish community, reparations are now due to address the debt still owed to descendants of enslaved Africans.

c. We commit to full and complete reparations to the African American community of this nation for the past four hundred plus years of genocide, slavery, land-loss, destruction of original identity and the stark disparities which haunt the present evidenced in unemployment statistics, substandard and inadequate education, higher levels of mortality including infant and maternal mortality and the practice of mass incarceration. We recognize that reparations are a debt (not charity) that is owed by our own and other nations and by the corporate institutions chartered under our laws to a collective of people. We believe that the leadership on the question of what our nation owes to this process of right ought to come from the African American community, whose right to self-determination and autonomy to chart the path to healing we fully recognize.

d. We understand that until significant steps are taken to reverse the ongoing abuses; to end the criminalization of the Black and Brown communities, to eradicate poverty, to invest in education, health care and the restoration and protection of human rights, that it will be impossible to repair the continuing damage wrought by the ideology of white supremacy which permeates the governing institutions of our nation.

e. While consensus is still evolving on what would constitute full and complete reparations, we support the following initial steps: We support the creation of a claim of action and a right to recover inherited wealth and other profits accumulated from the slave trade for the benefit of a reparations trust fund. We will initiate the repeal of the slave clauses that survive today in the U.S. Constitution. We will work to restore lands stolen through a variety of tactics including: violence, terrorism and the discriminatory access to operating capital that together has robbed black farmers and the broader community of their lands. We support the release of all political prisoners held by the USA. It is time that the political frame-ups, the prosecutorial misconduct and the racist application of police power that pass for justice in our country be buried and those victimized by these abuses of state power be given their lives back. We will support existing Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as new and existing Education and Development Funds.

f. We support efforts to overcome the effects of over 200 years of racial discrimination.

g. We call for an end to official support for any remaining symbols of slavery and specifically call for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from all government buildings.

h. We condemn the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies, which are guilty of stopping m torists, harassing individuals, or using unwarranted violence against suspects with no other justification than race or ethnic background.

i. We favor strong measures to combat official racism in the forms of police brutality directed against people of color.

j. We support effective enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, including language access to voting.

k. We oppose discriminatory English-only pressure groups. We call for a national language policy that would encourage all citizens to be fluent in at least two languages. [See section K. Immigration / Emigration in this chapter]

l. We strongly support the vigorous enforcement of civil-rights laws, the aggressive prosecution of hate crimes, and the strengthening of legal services for the poor.^[16]

”

—2016 Green Party Platform^[38]

Libertarian candidate[edit]

Gary Johnson[edit]

While participating in Fusion’s Libertarian Presidential Forum on August 17, 2016, Gary Johnson expressed opposition to hate crime laws. He said, “Look, I am scared to death regarding hate crime legislation. You’re talking about me throwing a rock through someone’s window. I should be prosecuted on throwing the rock, not my thoughts that motivated me throwing the rock through that window.”^[39]

In an interview with Politico on July 8, 2016, Gary Johnson said “the root” of the violence in Dallas was “the war on drugs.” He continued, “If you are [black and] arrested in a drug-related crime, there is four times more likelihood of going to prison than if you are white. And shooting is part of the same phenomenon That’s the common thread. Shootings are occurring with black people, black people are dying. This is an escalation.”^[40]

In an interview with BuzzFeed on July 6, 2016, Johnson called the footage of the police shooting death of Alton Sterling “very disturbing.” He continued, “If there was no display of a gun, if he didn’t have it in his hand…if his hand wasn’t being suppressed, I don’t get it. I mean, that’s murder.” Johnson said police departments should model themselves after those in cities with the fewest number of shootings.^[41]

Johnson called the imposition of the death penalty "flawed public policy" in his 2012 book, Seven Principles of Good Government. He wrote, "When I was younger, I supported capital punishment. I changed my mind because I recognized that the risks and costs associated with the death penalty are too high. I understand the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth mentality but, realistically public policy should have room for mistakes. Killing one innocent person who was wrongly accused is not worth executing 99 guilty people. DNA evidence and judicial appeals have shown many people are mistakenly convicted."^[42]

In September 1999, Johnson, an advocate of private prisons, opposed an independent review of private prison operations in New Mexico following several riots and fatalities at private facilities in the state. A spokeswoman from his office said he was "confident and satisfied" with an inquiry conducted by the Public Safety and Corrections Department.^[43]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

On August 23, 2016, Gary Johnson appeared on "The Five" on Fox News. Johnson repeated an earlier admission that until recently he'd had his "head in the sand" on the issue of institutionalized racism in the criminal justice system. "The Five" panelist Eric Bolling said he was shocked to hear that Johnson had publicly expressed support of the Black Lives Matter movement and disagreement with the phrase "all lives matter." Highlighting the racial disparity in shootings, Johnson responded, "All lives do matter, but when it comes to whites, guess what? We’re not being shot at the rate of six times blacks are being shot at."^[44]

During a CNN Libertarian Town Hall on August 3, 2016, Johnson was asked what he thought of the Black Lives Matter movement. "What it has done for me is that my head's been in the sand on this," Johnson replied. "I think we've all had our heads in the sand. And let's wake up. This discrimination does exist, it has existed, and for me, personally, slap, slap, wake up."^[45]
Read more of Gary Johnson's public statements on crime and justice.

The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform on crime and justice

“	The prescribed role of government is to protect the rights of every individual including the right to life, liberty and property. Criminal laws should be limited in their application to violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Therefore, we favor the repeal of all laws creating 'crimes' without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes. We support restitution to the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the criminal or the negligent wrongdoer. The constitutional rights of the criminally accused, including due process, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty, must be preserved. We assert the common-law right of juries to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law.^[16]	”
—2016 Libertarian Party Platform^[46]

The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform on rights and discrimination

“	3.5 Rights and Discrimination Libertarians embrace the concept that all people are born with certain inherent rights. We reject the idea that a natural right can ever impose an obligation upon others to fulfill that “right.” We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. Government should neither deny nor abridge any individual’s human right based upon sex, wealth, ethnicity, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation. Members of private organizations retain their rights to set whatever standards of association they deem appropriate, and individuals are free to respond with ostracism, boycotts and other free-market solutions.^[16]	”
—2016 Libertarian Party Platform^[47]

Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 presidential candidates on crime and justice. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

2016 presidential candidates on crime and justice - Google News

External links[edit]

ProCon.org's "Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?"
ProCon.org's "Should Law Enforcement Be Allowed to Use Racial Profiling?"
ProCon.org's "Should the United States Continue the War on Drugs?"
ProCon.org's "Is the Criminal Justice System Unfair to Black People?"
ProCon.org's "Is the Black Lives Matter Movement Good for America?"
ProCon.org's "Should Private Prisons Be Allowed in the United States?"
ProCon.org's "Should the United States Continue the War on Drugs?"

Footnotes[edit]

↑ Reuters, "Clinton: My worries are not the same as black grandmothers,'" October 3, 2016
↑ Hillary Clinton for President, "In Orlando, Clinton Vows to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities," September 21, 2016
↑ The New York Times, "'Madness Has to Stop,' Hillary Clinton Declares at NAACP Conference," July 18, 2016
↑ CNN, "Obama on Baton Rouge: We need to 'temper our words and open our hearts'," July 18, 2016
↑ The Hill, "Clinton: Dallas shootings 'deeply troubling'," July 8, 2016
↑ The Washington Post, "DeRay Mckesson: Why I’m voting for Hillary Clinton," October 26, 2016
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 CNN, "Clinton plans to develop national standards to manage police shootings," September 21, 2016
↑ The Los Angeles Times, "‘Something is profoundly wrong,’ Clinton says after high-profile killings of black men," July 7, 2016
↑ Politico, "Black Lives Matter protesters disrupt Clinton speech," October 30, 2015
↑ Politico, "Hillary Clinton has 'tough,' 'candid' meeting with Black Lives Matter activists," October 10, 2015
↑ New Hampshire Public Radio, "Clinton Holds Forum On Drug Abuse in Keene," August 11, 2015
↑ ^12.0 ^12.1 New Republic, "Black Lives Matter Arrives on Hillary Clinton’s Doorstep," August 11, 2015
↑ ^13.0 ^13.1 CNN, "Black Lives Matter videos, Clinton campaign reveal details of meeting," August 18, 2015
↑ Good, "Hillary Clinton to #BlackLivesMatter in Video, 'I Don’t Believe You Change Hearts...'," August 17, 2015
↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
↑ ^16.0 ^16.1 ^16.2 ^16.3 ^16.4 ^16.5 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
↑ ^18.0 ^18.1 Tim Kaine United States Senator for Virginia, "Press Release: In Richmond, Kaine Joins Ex-Offenders for Roundtable Discussion on Criminal Justice Reform," October 15, 2015
↑ The New York Times, "On Death Penalty Cases, Tim Kaine Revealed Inner Conflict," July 23, 2016
↑ ^20.0 ^20.1 Politico, "Kaine accuses Trump of history of racism," August 4, 2016
↑ CNN, "Pence: 'Too much talk' of institutional, racial bias in law enforcement," September 22, 2016
↑ CNN, "Trump 'very troubled' by Oklahoma fatal police shooting," September 21, 2016
↑ Business Insider, "Donald Trump on protests in Charlotte: 'There's a lack of spirit between the white and the black,'" September 22, 2016
↑ The Hill, "Trump: Drugs 'very big factor' in Charlotte unrest," September 22, 2016
↑ CBS News, "Trump gives tepid answer on birtherism; says he supports stop-and-frisk," September 22, 2016
↑ Chicago Tribune, "Trump urges stop-and-frisk for Chicago, a practice attacked as racial profiling," September 22, 2016
↑ The Washington Post, "African Americans are ‘in the worst shape they’ve ever been,’ Trump says in North Carolina," September 23, 2016
↑ Fox News, "In heartland Iowa, Trump vows to help farmers, urban minorities alike," August 27, 2016
↑ Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016
↑ Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
↑ The Washington Post, "The Latest: Pence calls for Charlotte shooting investigation," September 25, 2016
↑ Politico, "Pence: There's too much talk of police department 'racism,'" September 22, 2016
↑ MSNBC, "Mike Pence reacts to Tulsa police shooting," September 20, 2016
↑ Twitter, "Jill Stein," October 12, 2016
↑ Twitter, "Jill Stein," September 19, 2016
↑ Twitter, "Jill Stein," September 21, 2016
↑ OC Weekly, "Green Party Presidential Hopeful Jill Stein Wants to Let OC Know She'll Keep the Revolution Going," June 6, 2016
↑ The Green Party of the United States, "Platform," August 6, 2016
↑ Fusion, "Gary Johnson defends his opposition to hate crime laws and support of private prisons," August 17, 2016
↑ Politico, "Libertarian Johnson: Drug war 'root cause' of police shootings," July 8, 2016
↑ BuzzFeed, "Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson: Alton Sterling Shooting Appears To Be A Murder," July 6, 2016
↑ Johnson, Gary. (2012). Seven Principles of Good Government. Aberdeen: Silver Lake Publishing. (pages 70-71)
↑ Amarillo Globe-News, "Johnson opposes independent study of private prisons," September 3, 1999
↑ Bustle.com, "Gary Johnson Defended Black Lives Matter On Fox News With A Trove Of Statistics," August 24, 2016
↑ Politico, "Gary Johnson admits blind spot on racial discrimination," August 3, 2016
↑ Libertarian Party, "The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform," accessed August 24, 2016
↑ Libertarian Party, "Libertarian Party Platform," May 27, 2016

[1] Reuters, "Clinton: My worries are not the same as black grandmothers,'" October 3, 2016

[2] Hillary Clinton for President, "In Orlando, Clinton Vows to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities," September 21, 2016

[3] The New York Times, "'Madness Has to Stop,' Hillary Clinton Declares at NAACP Conference," July 18, 2016

[4] CNN, "Obama on Baton Rouge: We need to 'temper our words and open our hearts'," July 18, 2016

[5] The Hill, "Clinton: Dallas shootings 'deeply troubling'," July 8, 2016

[6] The Washington Post, "DeRay Mckesson: Why I’m voting for Hillary Clinton," October 26, 2016

[Tulsa-7] 7.0 ^7.1 CNN, "Clinton plans to develop national standards to manage police shootings," September 21, 2016

[8] The Los Angeles Times, "‘Something is profoundly wrong,’ Clinton says after high-profile killings of black men," July 7, 2016

[9] Politico, "Black Lives Matter protesters disrupt Clinton speech," October 30, 2015

[10] Politico, "Hillary Clinton has 'tough,' 'candid' meeting with Black Lives Matter activists," October 10, 2015

[11] New Hampshire Public Radio, "Clinton Holds Forum On Drug Abuse in Keene," August 11, 2015

[Yancey-12] 12.0 ^12.1 New Republic, "Black Lives Matter Arrives on Hillary Clinton’s Doorstep," August 11, 2015

[HillaryCNN-13] 13.0 ^13.1 CNN, "Black Lives Matter videos, Clinton campaign reveal details of meeting," August 18, 2015

[14] Good, "Hillary Clinton to #BlackLivesMatter in Video, 'I Don’t Believe You Change Hearts...'," August 17, 2015

[15] Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016

[quotedisclaimer-16] 16.0 ^16.1 ^16.2 ^16.3 ^16.4 ^16.5 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[17] Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016

[Roundtable-18] 18.0 ^18.1 Tim Kaine United States Senator for Virginia, "Press Release: In Richmond, Kaine Joins Ex-Offenders for Roundtable Discussion on Criminal Justice Reform," October 15, 2015

[19] The New York Times, "On Death Penalty Cases, Tim Kaine Revealed Inner Conflict," July 23, 2016

[UL-20] 20.0 ^20.1 Politico, "Kaine accuses Trump of history of racism," August 4, 2016

[21] CNN, "Pence: 'Too much talk' of institutional, racial bias in law enforcement," September 22, 2016

[22] CNN, "Trump 'very troubled' by Oklahoma fatal police shooting," September 21, 2016

[23] Business Insider, "Donald Trump on protests in Charlotte: 'There's a lack of spirit between the white and the black,'" September 22, 2016

[24] The Hill, "Trump: Drugs 'very big factor' in Charlotte unrest," September 22, 2016

[25] CBS News, "Trump gives tepid answer on birtherism; says he supports stop-and-frisk," September 22, 2016

[26] Chicago Tribune, "Trump urges stop-and-frisk for Chicago, a practice attacked as racial profiling," September 22, 2016

[27] The Washington Post, "African Americans are ‘in the worst shape they’ve ever been,’ Trump says in North Carolina," September 23, 2016

[28] Fox News, "In heartland Iowa, Trump vows to help farmers, urban minorities alike," August 27, 2016

[29] Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 25, 2016

[30] Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016

[31] The Washington Post, "The Latest: Pence calls for Charlotte shooting investigation," September 25, 2016

[32] Politico, "Pence: There's too much talk of police department 'racism,'" September 22, 2016

[33] MSNBC, "Mike Pence reacts to Tulsa police shooting," September 20, 2016

[34] Twitter, "Jill Stein," October 12, 2016

[35] Twitter, "Jill Stein," September 19, 2016

[36] Twitter, "Jill Stein," September 21, 2016

[37] OC Weekly, "Green Party Presidential Hopeful Jill Stein Wants to Let OC Know She'll Keep the Revolution Going," June 6, 2016

[38] The Green Party of the United States, "Platform," August 6, 2016

[39] Fusion, "Gary Johnson defends his opposition to hate crime laws and support of private prisons," August 17, 2016

[40] Politico, "Libertarian Johnson: Drug war 'root cause' of police shootings," July 8, 2016

[41] BuzzFeed, "Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson: Alton Sterling Shooting Appears To Be A Murder," July 6, 2016

[42] Johnson, Gary. (2012). Seven Principles of Good Government. Aberdeen: Silver Lake Publishing. (pages 70-71)

[43] Amarillo Globe-News, "Johnson opposes independent study of private prisons," September 3, 1999

[44] Bustle.com, "Gary Johnson Defended Black Lives Matter On Fox News With A Trove Of Statistics," August 24, 2016

[45] Politico, "Gary Johnson admits blind spot on racial discrimination," August 3, 2016

[46] Libertarian Party, "The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform," accessed August 24, 2016

[47] Libertarian Party, "Libertarian Party Platform," May 27, 2016

2016 Presidential Candidates On Crime And Justice

Contents

Democratic ticket[edit]

Hillary Clinton[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Tim Kaine[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Republican ticket[edit]

Donald Trump[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Mike Pence[edit]

Green candidate[edit]

Jill Stein[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Libertarian candidate[edit]

Gary Johnson[edit]

Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

Recent news[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]