The shift in rhetoric and policy around criminal justice issues has been significant over the last two decades. In fact, 21 years ago, Hillary Clinton as first lady spoke to a conference for female police officers where he pushed her husband's agenda in New York.
At the time, Clinton said the 1994 crime bill — which called for 100,000 more police officers, more prisons, and harsher sentencing for crimes, and enacted stricter gun laws — would "make a difference in your lives as police officers and in the lives of the communities you serve."
"We will be able to say, loudly and clearly, that for repeat, violent, criminal offenders — three strikes and you're out. We are tired of putting you back in through the revolving door," remarked the then-first lady.
Clinton also noted that the crime bill would help build more prisons.
"We will also finally understand that fighting crime is not just a question of punishment, although there are many dollars in the crime bill to build more prisons," she said. "It is also a question of prevention. We want to give police officers the tools to help young people stay out of trouble. We want to begin to give young people something to say yes to, not just to have to face the bleak, alienated streets that too often push them in the wrong direction."