The day after a heated confrontation over his 1994 crime bill with Black Lives Matter activists at a campaign rally, Bill Clinton expressed much regret for how the argument went and said he should have done a better job listening to their concerns, but he also stressed multiple times that, "Hillary was the first candidate to say there were too many young people in prison."



"And we need to let 'em out," Clinton said. "She was the first to say that."



Related Video: The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur: Why The Clintons Won't Answer Questions About Super-Predators & Mass Incarceration, "Look It Up" - The Clintons worked with Republicans to put a lot of black people in jail... That's outrageous people will say, that's offensive. That's the truth. That's the truth. Look it up. Go read Michelle Alexander. You'll find out.



"And it is true," Clinton said. "[The 1994 crime bill] had longer sentencing provisions. It is true that they led to some people going to jail too long."



"So I rather vigorously defended my wife, as I am want to do, and I realized finally I was talking past her the way she was talking past me. We gotta stop that in this country. We gotta listen to each other."





BILL CLINTON: So these two women in the crowd got up and started screaming.



They were angry about the crime bill that I had signed, and that I was responsible for mass incarceration.



Which is... Interesting.



Since--

BILL CLINTON: Hillary was the first candidate to say there were too many young people in prison.



Interesting since Hillary was the first candidate to say there are too many young people in prison for too long for nonviolent offenses.



And we need to let 'em out. She was the first to say that.



But what I was referring to was the crime bill I signed, that now-Vice President Biden sponsored.



And it is true it had longer sentencing provisions. It is true that they led to some people going to jail too long.



And I went to the NAACP last year and said that and said it was way past time to change... But we can't just let these kids out of prison if they don't have education and training, job placements, work, so they don't turn around and go back in. They need to be able to start again...



So I rather vigorously defended my wife, as I am want to do, and I realized finally I was talking past her the way she was talking past me. We gotta stop that in this country. We gotta listen to each other... We all have different experiences. We cannot learn anything until we listen.