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Presidential Candidates on Criminal Justice Issues - In Their Own Words

From the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on survey results on criminal justice issues from the presidential candidates (pdf):

In mid-October, 2003, the NACDL national office sent a short list of questions to the Bush-Cheney campaign and to the nine declared Democratic candidates in the upcoming presidential primaries. The candidates were asked for their views on the death penalty, DNA evidence, indigent defense, judicial discretion, the war on terrorism, white collar crime and corporate compliance. This survey was conducted for the benefit of our members; NACDL does not rate or endorse candidates for political office.

We received responses from five of the Democratic candidates; the Bush-Cheney election committee responded that the President and Vice President have not yet declared their candidacy for office, and it is not responding to these sorts of surveys at this time. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark, former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean, and U.S.Senators John Edwards (NC), John Kerry (MA) and Joseph Lieberman (CT) all responded by late December, in line with our request. Reps. Richard Gephardt (MO) and Dennis Kucinich (OH), and candidates Carol Moseley-Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton did not respond to phone calls and e-mails to their headquarters.

The same questions were sent to all candidates. The responses, in alphabetical order of the candidates’ names, follow each question.— Ralph Grunewald, Publisher, The Champion

Here are some of the questions the candidates answered:

Do you support the death penalty? Under what circumstances, if any, would you support a moratorium on death penalty cases on the federal and state level?

What is your position on the use of DNA evidence to determine the guilt or innocence of defendants after conviction, and how would you propose to fund such a plan?

Indigent defense systems are often underfunded and understaffed, and
public defenders often have large caseloads and minimal contact with defendants, as a result. Do you see a role for the federal government to provide assistance to alleviate problems present in the state systems?

Do you support restoring greater discretion to judges in federal sentencing, or do you support the current trend? How would you resolve the inherent con-
flict between the federal sentencing guidelines scheme and the federal mandatory minimum sentencing scheme?

Which provisions of the USAPATRIOT Act would you like to see repealed or amended, if any, and why?

There's more questions and lots of answers, go read the whole thing.

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