Hillary Clinton Calls for Equal Treatment in Cocaine Sentencing

[riversedge]

Source: wsj.com





6:00 am ET
Oct 30, 2015

By Laura Meckler



Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shown speaking at the Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on Wednesday, is set to announce her proposal for equal treatment in sentencing drug offenders on her trip Friday to Atlanta.
Katherine Taylor/Reuters

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is calling for equal treatment in sentencing drug offenders who use crack and powder cocaine, part of her agenda for overhauling the criminal justice system. She’s also reiterating her support for a ban on racial profiling by law enforcement officials.

A Clinton aide said she would announce the proposals on her trip Friday to Atlanta, where she plans to address a Rainbow PUSH Ministers’ lunch hosted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and where she will appear at a rally to launch African Americans for Hillary, a group supporting her campaign.

Mrs. Clinton’s support among African-Americans is strong and has remained so even through a rocky summer that saw her poll numbers fall with many other voters. Black voters play a significant role in certain Democratic primary states, including South Carolina, which hosts the third nominating contest, and throughout the South, where primaries are set for March 1................

Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/10/30/hillary-clinton-calls-for-equal-treatment-in-cocaine-sentencing/?mod=WSJBlog

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I hope it is televised

[Sunlei]

1. good, O. mandated down the difference some but not enough. a pinch of coca sould not be punished 500

times higher than a pinch of powder.

[Fuddnik]

2. She must have noticed a shift in the wind.

[TheSarcastinator]

3. Very Literally the Least She Could Do

What a sad technique to attempt to sway progressive voters while still maintaining the foundation for the drug war -- she's trying to have her cake and eat it too so that she can snag a few Bernie voters but still keep the Prohibitionists and Police Unions happy.

Weak sauce at best.

[NonMetro]

4. Yup. But...

That's what a "progressive" is. Instead of calling for an end to the war of drugs, they call instead for all people to be thrown in jail "equally".

[azureblue]

5. oh, BS

You need the facts-so start with the answer to this question: "What group of people pressed for, and got, harder sentencing for possession of rock cocaine?"
Ms. Clinton is saying the truth - there should be no disparity in punishment between possession of rock or flake cocaine. IOW, put it back the way it was,before certain groups got all crazy over the crack epidemic back in the 80's.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Republican conservatives and black elected officials.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/312823-black-leaders-once-championed-strict-drug-laws-they-now-seek-dismantle/

<snip>

This notion that strict drug laws have done more harm than good in black America is widely-accepted. Black elected officials have been instrumental in reforming strict sentencing laws in recent years.

What's less well-known is that early on, many African-American leaders championed those mandatory minimum sentences and other tough-on-crime policies. These efforts could be seen at the federal and state levels, as well as across black communities such as Harlem.

Grappling with a Drug Epidemic

"African-Americans are portrayed as passive victims to this, as the prison boom just washed over their communities, as if they were just completely victimized," said Vanessa Barker, author of 'The Politics of Imprisonment.' "I find that stance dehumanizing, I also find that stance empirically, historically inaccurate."

Barker and others argue that in the 1960s, residents of black neighborhoods felt constantly under threat from addicts and others associated with the drug trade, and their calls for increased safety measures resonated at community meetings, in the pages of black newspapers like 'The Amsterdam News,' and in churches.

Reverend George McMurray was lead pastor at the Mother A.M.E. Zion Church in Harlem in the 1970s when the city faced a major heroin epidemic. He wanted convicted drug dealers to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

"When you send a few men to prison for life, someone's going to pass the word down, 'It's not too good over here,'" McMurray said. "So instead of robbery and selling dope, [they'll think] ‘I want to go to school and live a good life...’"

Black support for the drug war didn't just grow in New York. At the federal level, members of the newly-formed Congressional Black Caucus met with President Richard Nixon, urging him to ramp up the drug war as fast as possible. But the drug epidemic was especially bad in New York, and especially in black neighborhoods.

"The silent black majority of Harlem and New York City felt constantly accosted by drug addicts, by pushers, by crime," said Michael Javen Fortner, a political scientist and historian from Rutgers University who recently wrote on the issue.

<snip>

Michelle Alexander disagrees about this, but I think it's revisionism to argue that there was no black support for those laws.

[fbc]

6. Equal treatment: everyone goes to prison!

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. On one hand, this is a good, fair thing; on the other, it's not a drug war-ending move.

So, half a kudo for Hillary.