• Politics

Clinton to Call for Body Cameras, End to ‘Era of Mass Incarceration’

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make the most substantive foray into public policy of her weeks-old presidential campaign Wednesday to address the ongoing tumult in Baltimore and the years-long issues of rising distrust between police and the communities they serve.

Delivering the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University, Clinton will call on the nation to “end the era of mass incarceration,” a Clinton aide said. Clinton is set to discuss her vision for criminal justice reform, including policy proposals to address nonviolent drug offenders and those with mental health issues.

“We need a true national debate about how to reduce our current prison population while keeping our communities safe,” Clinton wrote in an essay published this week by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. “We should work together to keep more nonviolent drug offenders out of prison and to ensure that we don’t create another ‘incarceration generation.’”

Clinton will call for every police department in the nation to deploy body cameras to record officer interactions with their communities. Last year’s shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson reignited a national debate about body cameras, but many jurisdictions have been slow to adopt them, citing cost or ideological concerns.

“She will also discuss the hard truth and fundamental unfairness in our country that today African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms,” a Clinton aide said.

In her first public comments on the Baltimore rioting, Clinton told donors in midtown Manhattan Tuesday that, “Baltimore is burning.”

“It is heartbreaking,” Clinton added. “The tragic death of another young African-American man. The injuries to police officers. The burning of peoples’ homes and small businesses. We have to restore order and security. But then we have to take a hard look as to what we need to do to reform our system.”

Clinton’s focus on criminal justice reform as her initial policy roll-out reflects a stark shift for the former New York Senator and First Lady, who for years championed tough-on-crime proposals like “three strikes” laws and her husband’s crime bill which toughened federal sentencing guidelines. But Clinton’s about-face follows a nationwide — and bipartisan — rethinking of criminal justice policies.

See Every Hillary Clinton TIME Cover

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The September 14, 1992 issue of TIMEGregory Heisler
TIME Issue May 10, 1993
The May 10, 1993 issue of TIMESteve Liss
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The March 21, 1994 issue of TIMEDirck Halstead
TIME Issue Mar. 18, 1996
The March 18, 1996 issue of TIMEBrad Markel
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The July 1, 1996 issue of TIMETIME
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The October 20, 1997 issue of TIMEPatrick Demarchelier
Feb. 9, 1998
The Feb. 9, 1998, issue of TIME.TIME
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The August 31, 1998 issue of TIMEBlake Sell—Reuters
Sep. 28, 1998
The Sep. 28, 1998, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton at top center, behind Bill Clinton.)Cover Credit: DOUG MILLS-AP, KHUE BUI, DAN LOH-AP & STEVE HELBER-AP
Feb. 15, 1999
The Feb. 15, 1999, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top right.)Cover Credit: MICHAEL O'NEILL
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The February 22, 1999 issue of TIMETIME
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The March 1, 1999 issue of TIMEAaron Shikler
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The June 16, 2003 issue of TIMETIME
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The August 28, 2006 issue of TIMEDiana Walker for TIME
Feb. 5, 2007
The Feb. 5, 2007, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.)Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH FOR TIME BY CHRISTOPHER MORRIS--VII
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The November 19, 2007 issue of TIMEJohn Ritter—Brooks Kraft
Jan. 21, 2008
The Jan. 21, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.)Cover Credit: NICK WRIGHT
The February 18, 2008 issue of TIMEDiana Walker, Doug Mills
Feb. 25, 2008
The Feb. 25, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.)Cover Credit: MATTHIAS CLAMER
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The March 17, 2008 issue of TIMEDavid Burnett
Mar. 24, 2008
The Mar. 24, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.)Cover Credit: ARTHUR HOCHSTEIN
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The May 5, 2008 issue of TIMECallie Shell, Damon Winter
May 12, 2008
The May 12, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the second zero in "100.")Cover Credit: CHIP KIDD
May 11, 2009
The May 11, 2009, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the "E" in TIME.)TIME
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The November 16, 2009 issue of TIMEMarco Grob for TIME. Left inset: Getty Images
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The November 7, 2011 issue of TIMEDiana Walker for TIME
Apr. 30, 2012
The Apr. 30, 2012, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton near top center.)TIME
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The January 27, 2014 issue of TIMEPhoto-Illustration by Justin Metz for TIME. Pants: Don Farrall—Getty Images. Man: Bloom Image/Getty Images. Shoe: Yasinguneysu/Getty Images
Mar. 23, 2015
The Mar. 23, 2015, issue of TIMEPhotograph by Spencer Platt–Getty Images
Feb. 15, 2016
The Feb. 15, 2016, issue of TIMEPhotograph by James Nachtwey for TIME

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