Comments

1
This is really interesting but leaves me with follow up questions (which I could research, but as long as you're writing about this...) The later portion of the post documents all the terrible things Bill Clinton did - did Hillary support all of them at the time or just the 1994 crime bill? Does she defend them today? Does her record in Congress contain votes that perpetuated mass incarceration? There's a side note that Sanders also voted 1994 crime bill - is that the only thing he did to perpetuate mass incarceration or is his record just as bad?
2
Good questions to ask the candidates.
3
Some historical context - this was on the heels of 12 years of Republican rule with Democrats (specifically Mike Dukakis) losing the previous election by a landslide largely due to the perception that he was soft on crime.
4
Michelle Alexander and Ansel Herz = Bernie Bros.
5
I wasn't aware that the FLOTUS legislated in those years. and Sanders is culpable, too? I suspect both of them know that Mass Incarceration is a failed policy at this point.

so, what @1 said.

6
Ruminating in history without context (as @3 points out) is useless in addressing the issues for the current day.
7
People change. Deal with it.
8
People pretend to change. Deal with that.
9
Michelle Alexander is married to U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart. He's the top federal law enforcement officer in Southern, Ohio -- Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Beavercreek. Her husband hasn't used federal law against the cops who gunned down John Crawford, III in a Beavercreek Walmart for holding a fake gun in an open carry state. Shouldn't she be talking to the man she lays with every night before she criticizes Hillary for what her husband did or did not do 20 years ago? I mean, what a Hypocrite!!!

The Clinton Crime Act gave the DOJ and people like Alexander's husband enormous power to reign in rogue prosecutors/district attorneys. Yet, in Ohio Alexander's husband has failed to use this power.

If people want to see a family embracing mass incarceration they should take a close look at Michelle Alexander's.
10
Note that in 1996 Bernie Sanders voted against H.R. 3734, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which “ended welfare as we know it.”
11
Hillary did strongly advocate for her husband's crime bill - as did the Congressional Black Caucus. It was a failed experiment, but not necessarily a colonial one just from white leaders. Because of the CBC's role, I think the real question is, where do those leaders stand now? Do they admit that the experiment failed? Many - including my own political hero, Joe Biden - do not, and that's a real problem. But Clinton did change her stance on the issue along with the CBC. So I think it's a bit unfair for this article to go 20 years back in time and project that forward onto today, ignoring the context of that moment and everything that's changed since.
12
The more I know, the more I like Jill Stein.......
http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/01/jill-s…
13
The Clintons have both commented on their error regarding incarceration. In order to put your writing into the proper context, you should explain that the Crime Bill was widely supported and had positive content as well. The nation was demanding that action be taken to curtail crime. The compromises that were made during the Clinton years were necessary to move legislation forward. While she supported her husband 100%, her command of the current incarceration crisis is deep. The problem for all of us is not Hillary Clinton, it is the Republicans.
14
It seems like there is some common ground in terms of the candidates feelings towards Mass Incarceration but has anyone heard anything about differences between the candidates in their approach the war on drugs?

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