Bernie Sanders, 1994: "horribly violent ... deeply sick and sociopathic ... must be put behind bars"

[beam me up scottie]

80. One more time in case you "forgot", here's the quote:

It is my firm belief that clearly there are people in our society who are horribly violent, who are deeply sick and sociopathic, and clearly these people must be put behind bars in order to protect society from them.

But it is also my view that through the neglect of our government and through a grossly irrational set of priorities, we are dooming today tens of millions of young people to a future of bitterness, misery, hopelessness, drugs, crime, and violence. And, Mr. Speaker, all the jails in the world — and we already imprison more people per capita than any other country — and all of the executions … in the world will not make that situation right.

We can either educate or electrocute. We can create meaningful jobs, rebuilding our society, or we can build more jails. Mr. Speaker, let us create a society of hope and compassion, not one of hate and vengeance.

Bernie didn't call kids "super predators" or say they needed to be brought "to heel" And locked up like animals. He said violent criminals need to be locked up and they do.

He opposed mass incarceration and spoke out at length about the injustices of our criminal justice system:

He tried to change the bill but ultimately voted for the Violence Against Women Act and assault weapons ban. He voted to save women's lives:

Try to spin THAT.