The Clinton Dynasty’s Horrific Legacy: How “Tough-On-Crime” Politics Built The World’s Largest...
The Clinton Dynastys Horrific Legacy: How Tough-On-Crime Politics Built The Worlds Largest Prison SystemHillary Clinton wants to run for president as an economic populist, as a humane progressive interested in bolstering the fortunes of poor and middle class Americans. But before liberals enthusiastically sign up for Team Hillary, they should remember this: In the late 1990s, Bill Clinton played in instrumental role in creating the worlds largest prison system one that has devastated our inner cities, made a mockery of American idealism abroad, and continues to inflict needless suffering on millions of people. And he did it with his wifes support.
That liberals are now being asked to get excited for Hillarys Clintons candidacy, announced on Sunday, almost requires the suspension of disbelief. That the best progressive alternative to Clinton is a long-shot from Vermont is a tragedy. This is not to say that President Hillary Clinton would pursue the same prison policies as her husband the political headwinds on criminal justice reform have shifted considerably in the past two decades, and the Clintons, accordingly, have shifted with them. But past actions should matter, and what they show is that the Clinton Dynasty embraced and exacerbated one of the late 20th Centurys greatest public policy disasters.
The explosion of the prison system under Bill Clintons version of the War on Drugs is impossible to dispute. The total prison population rose by 673,000 people under Clintons tenure or by 235,000 more than it did under President Ronald Reagan, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute. Under President Bill Clinton, the number of prisoners under federal jurisdiction doubled, and grew more than it did under the previous 12-years of Republican rule,combined, states the JPI report (italics theirs). The federal incarceration rate in 1999, the last year of the Democrats term, was 42 per 100,000 more than double the federal incarceration rate at the end of President Reagans term (17 per 100,000), and 61 percent higher than at the end of President George Bushs term (25 per 100,000), according to JPI.
Just before the New Hampshire primary, Bill Clinton famously flew back to Arkansas to personally oversee the execution of a mentally impaired African-American inmate named Ricky Ray Rector. The New Democrat spoke on the campaign trail of being tougher on criminals than Republicans; and the symbolism of the Rector execution was followed by a series of Clinton tough on crime measures, including: a $30 billion crime bill that created dozens of new federal capital crimes; new life-sentence rules for some three-time offenders; mandatory minimums for crack and crack cocaine possession; billions of dollars in funding for prisons; extra funding for states that severely punished convicts; limited judges discretion in determining criminal sentences; and so on. There is very strong evidence that these policies had a small impact on actual crime rates, totally out of proportion to their severity.
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http://www.salon.com/2015/04/13/the_clinton_dynastys_horrific_legacy_how_tough_on_crime_politics_built_the_worlds_largest_prison/
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)End a lot of systemic injustices in the 'justice' system, reinstall Glass-Steagal in its entirety, end NAFTA and abandon TPP.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)bunnies
(15,859 posts)those ARE "Hillary Issues". At least they damn sure should be.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)I wont be holding my breath though.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)have proposed changes to laws.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)(before a real one came along) is the man largely responsible for the plague of minority incarceration the country suffers.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Mega Prisons make money for the States that Run Them. "JOBS"
Babel_17
(5,400 posts)That era might get discussed if sentencing reforms are a topic. I suppose there's an opening for Republicans to try to work it in, but given their policies that punish the poor, I see them as consistently fumbling that.
I'd like to see HRC defuse this issue even without any hypothetical primary challenger bringing it up, however obliquely. The OP speaks for itself, imo; the issues at stake are fundamental to what makes us The Democratic Party.
HRC had her policy positions out pretty early, last time around, IIRC, and they were part of why I backed her. I hope she equals or surpasses that disclosure, this time.
appalachiablue
(41,182 posts)stopping TPP and changing the massive privatized, corporate prison system Bill Clinton assisted. He also ended welfare, setting a lifetime limit to 5 years no matter what the economy is like, putting many women and children into poverty. The personal and societal damage from these actions and policies, and from others like union busting, outsourcing, H1-B visas and privatized schools is unimaginable.
The powerful in the global investor class, including people in all American political parties are accustomed to stock revenues from investments in these industries. Peter Theil, the German born, libertarian tech billionaire of Paypal and Facebook doesn't believe capitalism is compatible with democracy, and thinks the US started going downhill when women got the right to vote. Communities rely on prisons for employment and contracts; an article here focused on a Texas town where residents were protesting, wanting the prison returned to their community. Thurgood Marshall Jr. is on the board of the CCA, Corrections Corporation of America, when I read that it was troubling.
denbot
(9,901 posts)It wasn't then President BILL Clinton driving harsher punishment. Conservatives were trying to one up each other by positioning themselfs to be tougher on crime, and had been since Reagan's administration.
Remember how the Willie Horton ads helped Bush the Elder into office?
But thanks for trying to damage the likely democratic nominee with a bullshit broad brush.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)denbot
(9,901 posts)But it NAFTA was initiated and much of the ground work done by Bush the Elder's administration.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Lipss
(20 posts)It's pretty easy.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I am going to move that any comment from the PUMAS that is anything like, "Fine, then vote for Cruz" be removed. If you think that adds anything to the discussion, wake up