Legal Commentary

Hillary Proposes Eliminating 5 Year Mandatory Minimum Penalty for Crack

By Jeralyn

Update: Praise for Hillary's plan from some American Mayors.

Hillary Clinton outlined her anti-crime proposal in Philadelphia today.

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would eliminate the federal mandatory five-year sentence for crack cocaine users as part of a $4 billion-a-year anti-crime initiative designed, in part, to steer many nonviolent offenders away from prison.

Hillary signed as co-sponsor of one of the bills to eliminate the crack cocaine disparity, Joe Biden's S. 1711, some months ago. Obama signed onto the same bill recently. (Note: It is not the pending bill I would have signed onto as it contains too many law enforcement provisions and tougher penalties for other crimes.)

Details of the plan are here. Hillary also calls for funding more cops on the street. As for paying for the $4 billion plan: [More...]

Clinton said she would pay for the $4 billion initiative with savings to be identified by a commission she will assign to "identify unnecessary and outdated corporate subsidies for elimination." Critics of deficit spending generally urge campaigns to be more specific in saying how they will pay for new programs.

Under Clinton's proposal, states would compete for $1 billion in annual grants to combat recidivism. It would "promote tough but fair" changes to probation practices and to existing programs meant to keep many nonviolent drug offenders out of prison.

The goal is to make punishment more certain for those who violate their probation, she said, while also enhancing efforts to help former drug users stay clean and thereby avoid prison. Clinton said the currently one-fourth of all former inmates who committed nonviolent crimes return to prison "as violent offenders."

I'll read the plan (as opposed to the AP summary) and report back. I don't expect to like it, nor do I expect she will differ in any significant way from Obama. Neither is my ideal candidate on these issues.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 11, 2008 (boomark / email).