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Bernie Sanders on Crime

Bernie Sanders on Crime Democratic primary challenger; Independent VT Senator; previously Representative (VT-At-Large)





End cash bail; unfair to poor

Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH , Feb 7, 2020

Felons should be allowed to vote while incarcerated

ONE CANDIDATE HAS SIMILAR VIEWS: Beto O`Rourke.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has argued for restoring voting rights to felons currently incarcerated. Former Rep. Beto O`Rourke has indicated support for restoring voting rights for nonviolent offenders.

Five Democratic candidates have adopted a more cautious approach, saying that voting rights should be restored after prison.

Source: Politico "2020Dems on the Issues" , Jul 17, 2019

Eliminate private prisons

NINE CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; Julian Castro; John Delaney; Tulsi Gabbard; Kamala Harris; Elizabeth Warren; Marianne Williamson; Andrew Yang.

Many Democrats have called for ending or not renewing the federal government's contracts with private prison companies. Sen. Warren would leverage federal public safety funding to extend the ban to the state and local levels.

Source: Politico "2020Dems on the Issues" , Jul 17, 2019

OpEd: Ambiguous record on 1994 crime bill

Source: NBC News on 2020 Democratic primary , Jun 23, 2019

Bail reform: 65% of county & city inmates are "unconvicted"

Today, we have a two-tier criminal justice system. If you are wealthy or middle class, you post bail and prepare for your trial at home. If you are poor and cannot afford the $500 or $1000 for bail, you are forced to remain in jail while you await your trial.

End the death penalty, like all other advanced countries

Source: Our Revolution, by Bernie Sanders, p. 383-384 , Nov 15, 2016

End mass incarceration & reform criminal justice

Abolishing the death penalty, ending mass incarceration, and enacting major criminal justice reforms;

Establishing a path toward the legalization of marijuana;

Ending disastrous deportation raids, banning private prisons and detention centers, and passing comprehensive immigration reform.

Source: Where We Go From Here, by B. Sanders, p.16-7, on 2016 DNC , Jul 9, 2016

By 2020, I pledge to have fewer people in jail than China

Source: 2016 PBS Democratic debate in Wisconsin , Feb 11, 2016

Government should not be part of the death penalty

CLINTON: I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes, like terrorism. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

SANDERS: It's hard to imagine how people can bomb and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, but this is what I believe: #1, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But #2, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't want to see government be part of killing.

Source: MSNBC Democratic primary debate in New Hampshire , Feb 4, 2016

Create criminal records for corrupt white collar criminals

Q: Senator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defence?

SANDERS: Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who paid a fine for $5 billion for defrauding investors. It was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, no criminal record. That is what power is. That is what has to change.

Source: MSNBC Democratic primary debate in New Hampshire , Feb 4, 2016

Jobs and education, not jails and incarceration

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H. , Dec 19, 2015

America has more people in jail than any country on earth

Source: 2015 CNN Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas , Oct 13, 2015

Reinstate voting rights to address school-to-prison pipeline

Bernie has also vowed to confront the school-to-prison pipeline by reforming education and investing in more jobs for American youth. In 2000, he voted to increase funds for alternative drug courts and Boys & Girls Club of America instead of allocating more money to prisons.

In 2015, Bernie co-sponsored the Democracy Restoration Act, which seeks to reinstate voting rights to people who have served their time and been freed from prison. This law would reinstate voting rights to the one in 13 black Americans who have lost the right to participate in our democratic process.

Bernie Sanders on Black Lives Matter

Police forces should reflect diversity of their communities

Every effort should be made to have police forces reflect the diversity of the communities they work in. And that must include in positions of leadership and training departments.

We must demilitarize our police forces so they don't look and act like invading armies. We should federally fund and require body cameras for law enforcement officers to make it easier to hold everyone accountable. We must stop cash-starved communities from using their police forces as revenue generators.

How justice system treats blacks is a national disgrace

During the campaign, I met frequently with members of the Black Lives Matter movement. This loosely knit organization was successfully educating the nation that in many black communities the police were not there protecting the people, but intimidating them. And time and time again, tragically, cell phone video cameras were recording horrific examples of extreme police brutality, the taking of innocent lives by overly aggressive police action.

There was no question that, as a nation, we had made great advances in civil rights. But there was also no doubt in my mind that much, much more needed to be done.

Black Lives Matter points out police brutality

Many American, and not just African-Americans and Latinos, are becoming increasingly outraged by police brutality. They are rightfully tired of turning on the television and seeing videos of unarmed blacks being shot & killed by police officers. They want criminal justice reform. They want police department reform. And I agree.

The vast majority of police officers are honest and hardworking. But when a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable. Further, police officers must be trained to understand that lethal force is the last response, not, as is too often the case, the first response. I promised that I would make sure that all killings that took place when people were in police custody or being arrested would prompt a Department of Justice investigation.

Real criminal justice/police reform also combats racism

Among many other struggles we must engage in to combat racism in this country, we must stop police brutality and the killing of unarmed African-Americans. This has emerged as one of the great civil rights issue of the early twenty-first century.

Too many African-Americans and other minorities find themselves subjected to a system that treats citizens who have not committed crimes like criminals. Because of over-policing in minority communities and racial profiling, African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police than whites.

New model for police training de-escalating lethal force

We must reexamine honestly how we police America, and the federal government can play an important role in establishing a new model police training program that reorients us in the way we do law enforcement. First and foremost, we must develop new rules on the allowable use of force. Police officers need to be trained to de-escalate confrontations and to humanely interact with people, especially people who have mental illnesses. Lethal force should be the last response, not the first.

1990s "super-predator" was racist term and everybody knew it

CLINTON: Well, look, I supported the crime bill. My husband has apologized. He was the president who actually signed it, Senator Sanders voted for it. I'm sorry for the consequences that were unintended and that have had a very unfortunate impact on people's lives.

Q [to Sanders]: You called out President Clinton for defending Secretary Clinton's use of the term "super-predator" back in the '90s when she supported the crime bill. Why did you call him out?

SANDERS: Because it was a racist term, and everybody knew it was a racist term. Look, much of what Secretary Clinton said was right. We had a crime bill. I voted for it. It had the Violence Against Women Act in it. When as mayor of Burlington, we worked very hard to try to eliminate domestic violence. This took us a good step forward. We're talking about the weapon that killed the children in Sandy Hook. This banned assault weapons, not insignificant.

Source: 2016 Democratic primary debate in Brooklyn NY , Apr 15, 2016

We need fundamental police reform

SANDERS: We need fundamental police reform. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers.

Source: 2016 PBS Democratic debate in Wisconsin , Feb 11, 2016

Whites & blacks smoke pot equally, but blacks go to jail

Source: 2016 PBS Democratic debate in Wisconsin , Feb 11, 2016

Involve U.S. Justice Dept. in every police killing

SANDERS: This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved:

Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation.

Second of all, if a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable.

And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing.

And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity.

Source: 2016 NBC Democratic presidential primary debate , Jan 17, 2016

Police officers should not be shooting unarmed people

Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H. , Dec 19, 2015

Blacks are disproportionately imprisoned & killed by police

Bernie has consistently spoken out about the problem of mass incarceration, particularly of people of color, calling it an "unspeakable tragedy." In May 2015 he addressed the issue at Drake University

"Isn't the justice system meant to protect all citizens? It should. But while black people make up only 13% of the population, they account for 31% of all victims killed by police. Blacks make up nearly 40% of unarmed individuals killed by police with a gun and 42% of unarmed individuals that are killed by police by means other than a gun. (And remember: statistics on police shootings are self-reported, so this data probably underestimates this depressing state of affairs.)"

Bernie Sanders on Voting Record

Crime bill had good parts (VAWA) & bad parts (death penalty)

CLINTON: Well, Senator Sanders voted for it as well; will you ask him too? Some aspects--the violence against women [VAWA] provisions--have worked well. But, other aspects of it were a mistake.

SANDERS: As we all know, there are bills in congress that have bad stuff--Good stuff and bad stuff in the same bill. Now, if I have voted against that bill, Clinton would say, "Bernie voted against the ban on assault weapons. Bernie voted against the violence against women act." Those were good provisions in the bill. Violence against women act has protected millions of women in this country, it was in that bill. The ban on assault weapons, that's what I have fought for my whole life. It was in that bill. I tried to get the death penalty aspects in that bill out. Clinton have a disagreement. I was then, and I am now opposed to the death penalty.

Source: 2016 Democratic primary debate in Flint, Michigan , Mar 6, 2016

Voted YES on reinstating $1.15 billion funding for the COPS Program.

Proponents recommend voting YES because:

This amendment reinstates the COPS Program. I remind everyone, when the COPS Program was functioning, violent crime in America reduced 8.5% a year for 7 years in a row. Throughout the 1990s, we funded the COPS Program at roughly $1.2 billion, and it drove down crime. Now crime is rising again. The COPS Program in the crime bill worked, and the Government Accounting Office found a statistical link between the COPS grants and a reduction in crime. The Brookings Institution reported the COPS Program is one of the most cost-effective programs we have ever had in this country. Local officials urgently need this support.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

The COPS Program has some history. It was started by President Clinton. He asked for 100,000 police officers. He said that when we got to 100,000, the program would stop. We got to 110,000 police officers and the program continues on and on and on.

This program should have ended 5 years ago or 6 years ago, but it continues. It is similar to so many Federal programs that get constituencies that go on well past what their original purpose was. It may be well intentioned, but we cannot afford it and we shouldn't continue it. It was never thought it would be continued this long.

Voted YES on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons.

Reference: Amendment sponsored by Scott, D-VA; Bill HR 4690 ; vote number 2000-317 on Jun 22, 2000

Voted NO on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime.

Reference: Bill introduced by McCollum, R-FL; Bill HR 1501 ; vote number 1999-233 on Jun 17, 1999

Voted YES on maintaining right of habeas corpus in Death Penalty Appeals.

Bill HR 2703 ; vote number 1996-64 on Mar 14, 1996

Voted NO on making federal death penalty appeals harder.

Bill HR 729 ; vote number 1995-109 on Feb 8, 1995

Voted YES on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment.

Bill HR 4092 ; vote number 1994-107 on Apr 14, 1994

Rated 78% by CURE, indicating pro-rehabilitation crime votes.

CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) is a membership organization of families of prisoners, prisoners, former prisoners and other concerned citizens. CURE's two goals are

to use prisons only for those who have to be in them; and for those who have to be in them, to provide them all the rehabilitative opportunities they need to turn their lives around.

Source: CURE website 00n-CURE on Dec 31, 2000

More funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes.

Title: To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes.

Summary: Provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any violent crime that is motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim or is a violation of hate crime laws.

Award grants to assist State and local law enforcement officials with extraordinary expenses for interstate hate crimes. Award grants to State and local programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. Prohibit specified offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Increase criminal sentencing for adult recruitment of juveniles to commit hate crimes. Collect and publish data about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on gender.

Source: House Resolution Sponsorship 01-HR1343 on Apr 3, 2001

Require DNA testing for all federal executions.

Title: To reduce the risk that innocent persons may be executed.

Summary: Authorizes a person convicted of a Federal crime to apply for DNA testing to support a claim that the person did not commit: the Federal crime of which the person was convicted; or any other offense that a sentencing authority may have relied upon when it sentenced the person with respect to such crime. Prohibits a State from denying an application for DNA testing made by a prisoner in State custody who is under sentence of death if specified conditions apply. Provides grants to prosecutors for DNA testing programs. Establishes the National Commission on Capital Representation. Withholds funds from States not complying with standards for capital representation. Provides for capital defense incentive grants and resource grants. Increases compensation in Federal cases, and sets forth provisions regarding compensation in State cases, where an individual is unjustly sentenced to death. Adds a certification requirement in Federal death penalty prosecutions. Expresses the sense of Congress regarding the execution of juvenile offenders and the mentally retarded.

Source: House Resolution Sponsorship 01-HR912 on Mar 7, 2001

Increase funding for "COPS ON THE BEAT" program.

COPS Improvements Act of 2007 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to make grants for public safety and community policing programs (COPS ON THE BEAT or COPS program). Revises grant purposes to provide for:

the hiring or training of law enforcement officers for intelligence, antiterror, and homeland security duties; the hiring of school resource officers; school-based partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems to combat crime, gangs, drug activities, and other problems facing elementary and secondary schools; innovative programs to reduce and prevent illegal drug (including methamphetamine) manufacturing, distribution, and use; and enhanced community policing and crime prevention grants that meet emerging law enforcement needs.

Authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to: assign community prosecutors to handle cases from specific geographic areas and address counterterrorism problems, specific violent crime problems, and localized violent and other crime problems; and develop new technologies to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in crime prevention.

Source: COPS Improvements Act (S.368/H.R.1700) 07-S368 on Jan 23, 2007

Reduce recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance.

Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007 Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand provisions for adult and juvenile offender state and local reentry demonstration projects to provide expanded services to offenders and their families for reentry into society.

Directs the Attorney General to award grants for: state and local reentry courts; Comprehensive and Continuous Offender Reentry Task Forces; pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders; technology career training for offenders; mentoring services for reintegrating offenders into the community; pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders; prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents of minor children; and a study of parole or post-incarceration supervision violations and revocations.



Source: Second Chance Act (S.1060/H.R.1593) 08-S1060 on Mar 29, 2007

Rated 73% by the NAPO, indicating a moderate stance on police issues.

Ratings by the National Association of Police Organizations indicate support or opposition to issues of importance to police and crime. The organization's self-description: "The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) is a coalition of police units and associations from across the United States. NAPO was organized for the purpose of advancing the interests of America's law enforcement officers through legislative advocacy, political action, and education.

"Increasingly, the rights and interests of law enforcement officers have been the subject of legislative, executive, and judicial action in the nation’s capital. NAPO works to influence the course of national affairs where law enforcement interests are concerned. The following list includes examples of NAPO’s accomplishments:

Enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act

Enactment of the National AMBER Alert Act

Enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

Enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

Enactment of the Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act (Right to Carry Legislation)

VoteMatch scoring for the NAPO ratings is as follows:

0%-50%: soft on crime and police issues;

50%-75%: mixed record on crime and police issues;

75%-100%: tough on crime and police issues.

Source: NAPO ratings on Congress and politicians 2014_NAPO on Dec 31, 2014

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Page last updated: Jul 12, 2020