--- title: Hillary Clinton Calls for Justice Reform and Police Body Cameras description: Clinton called for broad criminal justice reform in a speech on Wednesday but offered few specific solutions. canonical: https://time.com/3839892/hillary-clinton-calls-for-an-end-to-mass-incarceration/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-29T15:20:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T10:33:07.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Calls for Justice Reform and Police Body Cameras og:description: Clinton called for broad criminal justice reform in a speech on Wednesday but offered few specific solutions. og:url: https://time.com/3839892/hillary-clinton-calls-for-an-end-to-mass-incarceration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53cd86ffee4f6f34/6987ed828e06018dbd45e5ff/hillary-clinton13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on April 29, 2015 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Calls for Justice Reform and Police Body Cameras twitter:description: Clinton called for broad criminal justice reform in a speech on Wednesday but offered few specific solutions. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53cd86ffee4f6f34/6987ed828e06018dbd45e5ff/hillary-clinton13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Calls for an End to 'Mass Incarceration' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2015-04-09. Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:33 AM UTCPublished: Apr 29, 2015 3:20 PM UTC  Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on April 29, 2015 in New York City. Democratic presidential hopeful and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on April 29, 2015 in New York City. Kevin Hagen—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:33 AM UTCPublished: Apr 29, 2015 3:20 PM UTC Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for broad criminal-justice reform and renewed trust between police officers and communities, reflecting the former first lady’s evolution from supporting the policies instituted by her husband two decades ago in a period of high crime rates. Clinton called for body cameras in every police department in the country, as well as an end to an “era of mass incarceration.” Her speech came two days after the funeral in Baltimore of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died while in police custody, and amidst ongoing civil unrest in that city. **_Read more_**_:_ [_How Baltimore Police Lost Control in 90 Minutes_](http://time.com/3839580/baltimore-mondawmin-mall/) “There is something profoundly wrong when African-American men are far more likely to be stopped by the police and charged with crimes and given longer prison terms than their white counterparts,” Clinton said. “There is something wrong when trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve breaks down … We must urgently begin to rebuild bonds of trust and respect among American between police and citizens.” Clinton offered few specific policy plans in the speech, and didn’t explain how police forces would pay for body cameras on all officers. She spoke broadly about reducing jail sentences for low-level offenders and the effects of imprisoning millions, particular African Americans. “We don’t want to create another incarceration generation,” Clinton said. Clinton planned Wednesday’s speech in November, months before she announced her candidacy, according to former New York mayor David Dinkins, who introduced her. In her three weeks as a presidential candidate, Clinton’s only major speeches have been at noncampaign events like today’s at Columbia University. Her comments were her most significant on domestic policing since she ended her tenure as Secretary of State in 2013. The police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., last year sparked a nationwide debate about body cameras for officers, and subsequent police killings of black men caught on camera in New York State, South Carolina and Ohio have fueled calls for reform. Her remarks Wednesday reflected an evolution from the policing and incarceration policies that she supported in the 1990s, when as First Lady, she called for tougher prison sentences and “more prisons.” As President, Bill Clinton enacted a 1994 crime bill that built more prisons and increased the number of federal and death-penalty crimes, a bill that Hillary lobbied for in Congress. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders,” Hillary Clinton said in 1994\. “The three strikes and you’re out for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets.” Clinton’s campaign objected to an earlier version of this story that said the former First Lady “rejected” President Bill Clinton’s tough-on-crime stance of the 1990s, when crime rates were significantly higher than they are today. “1999 and 2015 are two very different times,” said a campaign aide. “Crimes rates have dropped by 50%. Different circumstances require different policy solutions.” The violent crime rate in 1991 before Bill Clinton took office was [44.1 victims per 1,000 people](http://www.gallup.com/poll/150464/americans-believe-crime-worsening.aspx), and rose to a 1990s high of 51.2 per 1,000 people in 1994 when Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law. But today, with violent crime rates having dropped to less than 20 per 1,000 people, many are calling for an adjusted approach towards crime. Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that federal money needed to be used to “bolster best practices” rather than equipping police with military equipment, and called for reducing the prison population. Her thinking reflects a broader evolution around the country, with politicians on both the left and the right backing ideas to reduce the prison population and change sentencing. Rand Paul, Chris Christie, the Koch brothers and many Democrats have also pushed for reform. The views Clinton expressed Wednesday aren’t new. In her first presidential campaign, Clinton called it a “disgrace” that “so many more African Americans” were incarcerated than whites, and as early as 2000 decried policing practices that appeared to target African Americans and Latinos. “Let us start by recognizing that crime is down dramatically — and lives have been saved in this city — because every day, brave men and women put on a uniform and place themselves in harm’s way to protect us,” she said in 2000\. “And let us also recognize that far too many people believe they are considered guilty simply because of the color of their skin.” ### See Hillary Clinton's Evolution in 20 Photos  Teenager: Hillary Rodham poses in her 1965 senior class portrait from Park Ridge East High School in Illinois. AP  Law School Student: Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham pose for a snapshot at Yale Law School in 1972\. They married in 1975. Clinton Presidential Library  Mother: Clinton poses with her husband, Bill, then in his first term as governor, with their week-old daughter, Chelsea, on March 5, 1980. Donald R. Broyles—AP  Campaign Companion: Clinton celebrates her husband's victory in a Democratic runoff in Little Rock, Ark. on June 8, 1982. AP  Arkansas First Lady: Clinton is seen in her inaugural ball gown in 1985. A. Lynn—AP  Political Wife: Clinton celebrates her husband's inauguration in Little Rock on Sept. 20, 1991. Danny Johnston—AP  Dignitary: Clinton receives an honorary law degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., on May 30, 1992. Chris Ocken—AP  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a meeting during the presidential campaign for her husband in Buffalo, N.Y., on April 4, 1992. Bill Sikes—AP  First Lady: Clinton appears at the MTV Inauguration Ball at the Washington Convention Center on Jan. 20, 1993. Shayna Brennan—AP  Second-Term First Lady: Clinton attends the Inaugural Ball after her husband was sworn in to a second term on Jan. 20, 1997. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  New York Senator: Clinton speaks at a press conference with female Democratic senators in Washington on June 21, 2006. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Committee Member: Clinton listens to the testimony of Lt. General David Petraeus to the Senate Armed Forces Committee at a hearing on Capital Hill in Washington on Jan. 23, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Candidate: Clinton holds a a campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., while running for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sept. 2, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Jan. 2, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secretary of State: Clinton kisses President Obama at a joint session of Congress in Washington on Feb. 24, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton joins Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 3, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Jan. 23, 2013. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  Author: Clinton attends a signing memoir, "Hard Choices," at a Costco in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Grandmother: Clinton holds her granddaughter Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on Sept. 27, 2014. Office of President Clinton/AP  Once and Future Candidate: Clinton speaks at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, on Sept. 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis ## Transcript You know, I'm not sittin' here some little woman standing here by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sittin' here because I love him, and I respect him. Now is our chance to beat the historical odds, and give the American people the health security they need. If there is one message that echoes forth from this. Let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all. The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right- wing conspiracy that has been conspiring. Against my husband since the day he announced for president. I would be happy to, when you give me the signed letters. Well, right here. Right here. When you give me. Right here. Sign it right now. We'll shake. We'll shake on this, Ray. No, no, I want your signature, cause I think that everybody wants to see you signing something that you said you were for. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't wanna see us fall backwards. Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. The battle to stop Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Does not end with one death. What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. I took the unprecedented step of asking that the state department make all my work- related emails, [ MUSIC ] Public for everyone to see. 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