Barack Obama on Crime

• Reduce recidivism by providing ex-offender supports. (Feb 2008)
• Ban racial profiling & eliminate disparities in sentencing. (Feb 2008)
• Have a civil rights division enforce laws fairly and justly. (Jan 2008)
• GovWatch: No, more young black men in college than in prison. (Jan 2008)
• Lack of enforcement sets tone for more hate crimes. (Dec 2007)
• Legislated protecting police detainees during interrogation. (Nov 2007)
• Pushed Illinois bill to videotape all capital interrogations. (Oct 2007)
• No extra penalty for gang association. (Oct 2007)
• Works on ex-offender laws because it could have been him. (Aug 2007)
• Need justice that is not just us, but is everybody. (Jun 2007)
• Some heinous crimes justify the ultimate punishment. (Oct 2006)
• Videotape all capital punishment interrogations. (Oct 2006)
• Passed 150 laws to toughen penalties for violent crime. (Oct 2004)
• Restrict police entry rules, to protect our civil liberties. (Oct 2004)
• Death penalty should be enforced fairly and with caution. (Oct 2004)
• Death penalty should not discriminate by gang membership. (Oct 2004)
• Battles legislatively against the death penalty. (Jul 2004)
• Supports alternative sentencing and rehabilitation. (Jul 1998)
• Voted YES on reinstating $1.15 billion funding for the COPS Program. (Mar 2007)
• Rated 75% by the NCJA, indicating a mixed record on criminal justice. (Dec 2005)

Obama's claim to fame is that he is strong on crime. He has passed some good bills, such as the video taping of all capital crime interrogations. This bill will help guarantee the worst of the worst don't get off.

Obama also has some strange ideas about fairness and profiling. He seems to forget that without good descriptions it is almost impossible to catch the perpetrator of a crime. Sex, Race, dress are all clear visuals that lead to an arrest. We want the guilty party caught and punished regardless. How can we restrict police and prison to a quota system?

Obama has been quoted as complaining about hate crimes and their lack of enforcement against Latinos. The lack of enforcement is at the border. If the border was enforced we would feel over run and protectionist actions and attitudes wouldn't be an issue. Some say there are over 20 million illegals wandering around the US, others put the numbers at close to 40 million. How is the average citizen not to feel anger toward the government and these people when they see the vast damage and resources being utilized by them? Let's see him work on fixing this problem to the satisfaction of the voters and stop working to under cut the American citizen.

Hey, I am for alternative sentencing when it comes to nothing crimes. I don't want to pay the taxes to feed and house them. For those who take it up a notch, I want hard time. I want jail to be a deterrent not a country club. I'm all for job training and special incentives to employers to put them back into the work force. I can accept those who regret their sins and take every measure to restore themselves and pay for their failures. I have no leniency for repeat offenders. They should serve a 5 fold sentence or be removed from the gene pool.

If you commit a heinous act you should be put to death. Obama seems to waffle on both sides of this issue. He will say "Yes" with the front of the sentence and "No" with the back, adding up to nothing. He has fought often to avoid the use of the death penalty and does not believe it works as a deterrent. Yet, look at all the states who have it and use it. Their violent crime statistics are much lower then their counterparts.

Obama is a Flip Flopper on Crime. He says he wants to take steps to stop it while at the same time he make the battle so much harder to win.

Quote:

"I don't want to wake up four years from now and discover that we still have more young black men in prison than in college."--Barack Obama, fund-raiser in Harlem, NY, Nov. 29, 2007.

Simply untrue, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. There may be a case for arguing, as some Obama supporters have done, that the total number of black prisoners is slightly higher than the total number of black students. But I can only fact check the comparison the candidate actually made, which was between young black men in prison and in college. Rather than acknowledge the error, the Obama campaign declined to provide statistical support.