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Barack Obama on Crime and Punishment
Obama wrote in his recent memoir that he thinks the death penalty "does little to deter crime." But he supports capital punishment in cases "so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment."
"In the Illinois Senate, I sponsored a bill to require videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases [after the] governor had instituted a moratorium on al executions. In negotiating the bill, I talked about the common value that I believed everyone shared--that no innocent person should end up on death row, abd that no person guilty of a capital offense should go free. At the end of the process, the bill had the support of all the parties involved, and it passed unanimously."
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 57-59 Oct 1, 2006
"I believe the death penalty is appropriate in certain circumstances. There are extraordinarily heinous crimes... terrorism, the harm of children, in which it may be appropriate."
"I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution."
"This vote was about who we are as Americans and whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality. Those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. Today's vote is a victory for all of us in upholding basic rights and protections in this country. I urge the President to reconsider his veto threat and support this legislation. Passing this bill will help us live up to the principle that in this country, we treat all of our citizens with dignity and respect."
More funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes. Obama sponsored the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Title: To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes. Summary: Provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any violent crime that is motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim or is a violation of hate crime laws. 1. Award grants to assist State and local law enforcement officials with extraordinary expenses for interstate hate crimes. 2. Award grants to State and local programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. 3. Prohibit specified offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. 4. Increase criminal sentencing for adult recruitment of juveniles to commit hate crimes. 5. Collect and publish data about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on gender.
House Resolution Sponsorship 01-HR1343 on Apr 3, 2001
If elected, Mr. Obama said he would establish a Drug Enforcement Agency office in New Orleans that would be dedicated to stopping drug gangs across the region.
When asked if what he thought of a Clinton-era bill that created wide disparity in the way powder cocaine and crack cocaine was punished, Mr. Obama responded, "Yes, it was a mistake."
"We can assume that with lawful work available for young men now in the drug trade, crime in any community would drop."
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.257-259 Oct 1, 2006
That vacillation became evident as he kept talking about crack-vs.-powder sentencing, which has come to symbolize racial injustice in criminal justice. He said that if he were to become president, he would support a commission to issue a report "that allows me to say that based on the expert evidence, this is not working and it's unfair and unjust. Then I would move legislation forward."
Boston Globe August 15, 2007
Legislation supported by U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) to restore funding that police officers say is crucial to fighting methamphetamine use was accepted as part of the 2007 budget.
"I think it's time we also took a hard look at the wisdom of locking up some first-time, non-violent drug users for decades."
"If you're convicted of a crime involving drugs, of course you should be punished... But let's not make the punishment for crack cocaine that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference is where the people are using them or who is using them."
Principles that Obama supports to address crime: -Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. -Increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentences. -Provide funding for military-style "boot camps" for first-time juvenile felons.
1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test Jul 2, 1998
"When I'm President, I will. We will review these sentences to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the blind and counterproductive warehousing of non-violent offenders. And we will give first-time, non-violent drug offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior."