Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued Sunday during the Democratic presidential debate that the United States needs to address “systemic racism” in the criminal justice system.
Clinton was asked during the debate about the shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by a police officer in South Carolina. She said that it was “heart breaking and incredibly outraging” to see young men who have been killed by officers.
“There needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system,” she said. “And that requires a very clear agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stock our country into high relief.”
Clinton said that statistics show one out of three black men might go to prison.
“I want people here to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men,” she said. “And very often the black men are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for offenses that do not lead to the same results for white men. So we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore.”
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