Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley talk criminal justice in Columbia.
Republican and Democratic presidential candidates courted black voters on Saturday while participating in a forum that called for criminal justice reform in America.
The afternoon-long event featured Republican frontrunner Ben Carson, and Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. The event — which was hosted by the 20/20 Leaders of America and was streamed though Black Entertainment Television — allowed each candidate to present a speech, and to later participate in a question-and-answer session with a journalist, members of the crowd and through social media. . .
Carson led the event, speaking about his upbringing and experiences as a poor black child, and the difficult life his mother had as a divorced woman with “limited education.”
He was asked about high-profile cases of alleged police misconduct, including several in which African-Americans were killed by police or died in custody. The retired neurosurgeon says he is not aware of a lot of cases where police officers treat black citizens unfairly because of their skin color.
He says any “rogue policeman” should be punished but that society shouldn’t set rules “based on bad apples.”
He adds that he has never had problems with police because his mother raised him to “respect authority.” . .
Carson was followed by Sanders, who dove into in-depth policy reform he’d institute at the federal level to drive down incarceration rates overall, especially for members of the black community.
“Criminal justice reform must be the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” Sanders said. “The killing of unarmed African-Americans must stop.”
As he’s done in the past, Sanders called for the demilitarization of the country’s police departments, equipping officers with body cameras, and aggressively investigating and prosecuting police officers who break the law.
He called for establishing federal policing standards, training officers on how to de-escalate situations, and using lethal force as a last resort. Sanders also called for ending mandatory minimum sentences and the use of private prisons.
“We have to rethink our entire approach,” Sanders said. “We cannot jail our way out of health problems, like drug addiction or social and economic problems like poverty.” . .
O’Malley also touched on familiar topics, touting his trajectory from Baltimore city councilman to mayor to Maryland’s governor, and how his policies drove down incarceration and violent crime rates.
“While the other two candidates will talk about things we should do in criminal justice reform, I have actually done them,” O’Malley said. “Every day we worked to improve policing-community relations and, in fact, we did. When we found things that work like drug treatment and civilian review, we have made them stronger and did more of it. When we found things that did not work like the death penalty that did not work, we stopped doing it and abolished it.”'
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151121/PC1603/151129775/1031/ben-carson-bernie-sanders-martin-o-x2019-malley-talk-criminal-justice-in-columbia
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151121/PC1603/151129775/1031/ben-carson-bernie-sanders-martin-o-x2019-malley-talk-criminal-justice-in-columbia
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