1991 Bernie Sanders on Crime, Punishment, and Poverty. Urges end to harsh policies.

[madfloridian]

Bernie Sanders on Crime, Punishment, and Poverty (10/22/1991) Published on Jul 8, 2015

Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) delivers a fiery speech on the issue of crime and the root of the problem: poverty. Urges an end to harsh retributive policies around crime and punishment that disproportionately affect the impoverished.

I agree with this diary at at Daily Kos.

Stop saying that Bernie Sanders was for the crime bill. He spoke over and over and over again against it.

Here he is, calling it what it really was, a punishment bill, that came after poor people and Black folk.

When he eventually supported a version of it, he openly stated that he only did so because of the new laws protecting women in the bill, but be clear, he always opposed it, and did so with great passion.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, madfloridian.

[Fumesucker]

2. Sanders got it right when practically everyone else in DC got it dead wrong

Specifically including Secretary Bring Them To Heel.

[tblue37]

4. Yes, he did--over and over and over again, on this issue, and on so very many other

issues, for four decades!

[PatrickforO]

3. Bernie Sanders: Consistent then, consistent now.

That's why my wife and I FEEL THE BERN.

[newfie11]

5. Go Bernie

Also get rid of private prisons!

[appalachiablue]

6. Feb. 25, 2016, Sanders Campaign Press Release on 1994 Crime Bill; Clinton Statements and Labels

Press Release

Sanders Voted for 1994 Crime Bill to Support Assault Weapons Ban, Violence Against Women Provisions
February 25, 2016

FLINT, Mich. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager on Thursday reiterated the senator’s reasoning for voting in favor of the Clinton administration’s 1994 Crime Bill despite serious reservations. The House version of the bill included a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons. Sanders had supported the ban since 1988. The conference committee version included not only the assault weapons ban but also the Violence Against Women Act provisions. Sanders supported these efforts to protect women.

In Sanders’ statement at the time, he criticized the mass incarceration and death penalty provisions in the bill, saying:

“…it is also my view that through the neglect of our Government and through a grossly irrational set of priorities, we are dooming tens of millions of young people to a future of bitterness, misery, hopelessness, drugs, crime, and violence.

And Mr. Speaker, all the jails in the world, and we already imprison more people per capita than any other country, and all of the executions in the world, will not make that situation right. We can either educate or electrocute. We can create meaningful jobs, rebuilding our society, or we can build more jails.

Mr. Speaker, let us create a society of hope and compassion, not one of hate and vengeance.”

During consideration of the bill, Sanders voted six times to weaken or eliminate the death penalty provisions and voted separately against creating new mandatory minimums. Then-First Lady Hillary Clinton spoke strongly in favor of increased incarceration, labeling at risk youth as “super-predators” who had to be “brought to heel.”

“When this so-called crime bill was being considered, Bernie Sanders criticized its harsh incarceration and death penalty provisions,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, resorted to dog whistle politics and dehumanizing language. Bernie was right then and he’s right now. We need to invest in those communities that have been neglected in this country. Poor communities – more often than not, communities of color – deserve the same opportunities and education that other communities have. Bernie Sanders has always known jails and incarceration are not the answer. Nor is heated rhetoric against young people of any race. You can’t throw vulnerable people under the bus just because it’s politically expedient.”

https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-voted-for-1994-crime-bill-to-support-assault-weapons-ban-violence-against-women-provisions/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511339700

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1340356

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. This is actually the part that tells me he KNEW it was a bad vote.

“…it is also my view that through the neglect of our Government and through a grossly irrational set of priorities, we are dooming tens of millions of young people to a future of bitterness, misery, hopelessness, drugs, crime, and violence.

It was a bad vote because he traded one set of victims for another set. Yes, he had his reasons, and yes, omnibus bills are the worst of 'sausage making', but it was still a bad vote.

Let's continue to support his overall career, goals, and objectives, but at the same time admit that no human is perfect, and in his entire career in office, he has actually cast a bad vote or two.

[madfloridian]

8. Look whose bill it was, the Clintons attack him for voting for THEIR bill they pushed so hard.

Hillary was pushing for it while Bernie kept voting against it.....don't you see the awful irony in that?

Now she is sending out her attack dogs over something she claimed as her own?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

10. Sure, it's hypocritical as hell from her campaign.

But Sanders still has to own his own mistakes, even when that mistake was in agreeing with Clinton. And, from a political standpoint, I think he could both be straightforward and honest and diffuse it as a campaign issue by carefully wording his apology for that vote. 'I sincerely regret having voted for the Clinton crime omnibus bill that ended up causing so much misery in the black community'. perhaps.

[appalachiablue]

12. On July 15, 2015 Bill Clinton made an announcement and apology at the NAACP Convention

in Philadelphia 20 years after the 1994 Crime Bill to pave the way for Hillary's 2016 presidential campaign, when the law became a key issue with the Black Lives Matter movement and after the mass shooting of innocent black church members by white supremacist murderer Dylan Roof in Charleston, S.C. on June 17, 2015.
Hillary Clinton's acceptance of thousands of dollars in funding through lobbyists from the private prison industry including two of the largest, most lucrative corporations, CCA, the Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group has also been closely examined and criticized.

Sanders made strong, vocal objections to the 1994 Crime Bill when proposed and implemented because of his moral compass, sense of justice and integrity. His involvement in the passage of the act in the 1990s during the Clinton administration is far from the Clintons' support and benefit from the legislation. The bill was also voted for by members of the CBC, the Congressional Black Congress. Sanders explained his vote and profound opposition at the time and in the press release from yesterday. Throughout his 2016 campaign he has publically condemned destructive arrest and imprisonment laws and illegal law enforcement actions. We must end predatory, racist mass incarceration of millions of black and brown people in the US, the largest prison population in the world, and invest in education and jobs instead Sanders stresses. This shameful American scourge is one of the major issues of his platform. Concerning needed changes to the criminal justice system and excessive police brutality practices Sanders couldn't be clearer or more determined.
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*The 1994 Violent Crime Control Law Cinton signed funded more prisons, 100,000 police, established harsher sentences and created 60 new death penalty offenses. Clinton has apologized since May and July at an NAACP conference saying "I made criminal justice worse" and "we have too many people in prison." Bill Clinton said at a NAACP meeting in Philadelphia on Wednesday that he made a mistake by signing the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act that lengthened federal sentences for many crimes. "I signed a bill that made the problem worse. And I want to admit it", he said.
Clinton sounded a lot different when he signed the bill: "Gangs and drugs have taken over our streets and undermined our schools. Every day, we read about somebody else who has literally gotten away with murder". The act, co-written by Joe Biden, promised greater federal funding for states if they enacted stricter sentencing laws for violent offenses. In addition, it provided money for extra prisons, funding for 100,000 police, cut higher education assistance for inmates, and created 60 NEW DEATH PENALTY OFFENSES. Finally, the bill created the Violence Against Women Act and banned the sale of assault weapons.


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*The Private, For Profit Prison Industry: As immigration and incarceration issues become central to the 2016 presidential campaign, lobbyists for two major prison companies are serving as top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton. Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group could both see their fortunes turning if there are fewer people to lock up in the future. Last week, Clinton and other candidates revealed a number of lobbyists who are serving as “bundlers” for their campaigns. Bundlers collect contributions on behalf of a campaign, and are often rewarded with special favors, such as access to the candidate.
Richard Sullivan, of the lobbying firm Capitol Counsel, is a bundler for the Clinton campaign, bringing in $44,859 in contributions in a few short months. Sullivan is also a registered lobbyist for the Geo Group, a company that operates a number of jails, including immigrant detention centers, for profit. As we reported yesterday, fully five Clinton bundlers work for the lobbying and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in America, paid Akin Gump $240,000 in lobbying fees last year. The firm also serves as a law firm for the prison giant, representing the company in court.
Akin Gump lobbyist and Clinton bundler Brian Popper disclosed that he previously helped CCA defeat efforts to compel private prisons to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Hillary Clinton has a complicated history with incarceration. As first lady, she championed efforts to get tough on crime. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders,” Clinton said in 1994. “The ‘three strikes and you’re out’ for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets,” she added. https://theintercept.com/2015/07/23/private-prison-lobbyists-raising-cash-hillary-clinton/
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/128027936
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026987054
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027002095

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. So, he was against it before he was for it

[madfloridian]

11. Remember whose bill it was. The Clintons were powerful.

It's really hypocritical of Hillary's campaign to send out attack dogs when it was their bill he grudgingly finally voted for.

I find the hypocrisy almost too great to handle on this one.

But then I am finding a lot about her campaign very hard to stomach lately.

Surprisingly in my very red area of FL....I talk to people who are conservative and like Bernie. But the state powers that be would make it hard for him to win here...esp. since media seldom mentions his name out loud.