Hi there,

In this chaotic news cycle it may be tempting to tune out, but we hope you won’t—only an informed and engaged public can defend democracy. In these times of deep political polarization we need news that goes beyond play-by-play headlines, news that goes to the heart of each story by asking people to tell their own stories of abuses of power and injustice in their own words. If our journalism is important to you, please donate today. Thanks to a group of generous donors, all donations made today will be DOUBLED, which means your $15 gift is worth $30. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much.

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Bill Clinton Admits 1994 Crime Bill Helped Fuel Mass Incarceration

HeadlineMay 11, 2015

Former President Bill Clinton has acknowledged policies under his watch have led to over-incarceration. Speaking to CNN, Clinton admitted faults with his 1994 crime bill, which imposed harsher sentences for drug offenses and expanded the number of prisons and police.

Bill Clinton: “The problem is, the way it was written and implemented, we cast too wide a net. We have too many people in prison. And we wound up putting so many people in prison that there wasn’t enough money left to educate them, train them for new jobs and increase the chances when they came out so they could live productive lives. I strongly support what [Hillary Clinton] is doing, and I think any policy that was adopted when I was president in federal law that contributed to it should be changed.”

Bill Clinton’s comments come after Hillary Clinton criticized mass incarceration and called for drug sentencing reform in a speech last month, her first major address since announcing her presidential campaign.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top