Clinton: ‘Justice system out of balance’

Hillary Clinton weighed in on the roiling debate over race relations and police brutality on Thursday, saying she’s “pleased” to know the Department of Justice will investigate the deaths of two black men at the hands of white officers.

“We have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance,” she said at the Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston, where she delivered the keynote address. “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet we have almost 25 percent of the world’s total prison population.”

{mosads}The Wednesday decision by a Staten Island grand jury to clear officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of Eric Garner, 43, renewed national debate over race and the criminal justice system after a white police officer was not indicted last week in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

Clinton’s remarks on the Staten Island incident one day after the grand jury’s announcement is a sharp contrast to her long silence on the Ferguson shooting, which drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

While commending President Obama’s formation of a police reform task force, Clinton noted the “hard truths” that African American men are disproportionately targeted by police officers.

“Those families and those communities deserve a full and fair accounting,” the likely Democratic presidential frontrunner told the crowd of several thousand women.

She also waded into the debate over police militarization, an issue that rose to the top of the national conversation after Ferguson police officers met protestors with armored vehicles and tear gas, but has since faded some. 

“Let’s make sure that federal funds to state and local law enforcement are used to bolster best practices, rather than buy weapons of war that have no place on our streets or contribute to unnecessary force or arrests,” said the former New York senator and secretary of State.

Clinton went on to encourage people to have more sympathy for others.

“The most important thing that each of us can do is to try even harder to see the world through our neighbors’ eyes,” she said.  

This post was updated at 4:19 p.m.