"former president Barack Obama stated that we cannot puni...
“"former president Barack Obama stated that we cannot punish people who were convicted of a crime for their entire life"”
Summary
Barack Obama has discussed criminal‑justice reform, clemency, and reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals, but there is no record of him stating that people convicted of a crime cannot be punished for their entire lives. The claim misrepresents his public remarks.
Sources 57 searched
- President Obama's Record on Clemency | The White House
On May 5, 2016, President Barack Obama granted commutation of sentence to 58 individuals...
- The Reinvigoration of the Clemency Authority | whitehouse.gov
With today’s action, the President has granted more commutations than any president in this nation’s history.
- President Obama: "Our Criminal Justice System Isn't as Smart as It Should Be" | whitehouse.gov
Nearly all of these people would have already finished serving their time if they had been convicted today of the same crime. Last year, in fact, America's crime rate and incarceration rate both went down at the same time, for the first time in 40 years. An audience member raises a hand as President Barack Obama finishes his closing remarks at the NAACP Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., July 14, 2015.
- Why Obama is ‘close’ to opposing the death penalty, according to a long-time associate - The Washington Post
A long-time associate and mentor to President Obama says the president is "close" to opposing the death penalty but not quite there yet -- and needs to be pushed to do it.
- David Wilson: Where does Barack Obama stand on the death penalty?
In response he stated that he opposed what the supreme court had done and argued that "I think that the rape of a small child, six or eight 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 does not violate our constitution." In other words there was no way that Obama was going to be "soft on crime", and in the American context that means he is going to support capital punishment.
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