Bernie Sanders

Statement by Senator Bernie Sanders on Criminal Justice Reform

October 30, 2015

MANCHESTER, N.H. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday issued the following statement on eliminating sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and for crimes involving powder cocaine:

"Secretary Clinton is right. We must eliminate sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine. That is why I have repeatedly voted in favor of addressing this disparity.

"When we talk about criminal justice reform, we also need to understand that millions of people have been arrested for using marijuana. We must recognize that blacks are four times more likely than whites to get arrested for marijuana possession, even though the same proportion of blacks and whites use marijuana. Any serious criminal justice reform must include removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.

"Further, real criminal justice reform must have the United States join every other major democracy in eliminating the death penalty."

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Bernie Sanders, Statement by Senator Bernie Sanders on Criminal Justice Reform Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/314444

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