Death Penalty Could Provide Debate Fodder for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders [View all]

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Hillary Rodham Clinton, who leads most Democratic polls nationally and in Iowa, has for months moved to her party’s left on a range of issues, from immigration overhaul to criminal justice reform to, more recently, opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Yet on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton bluntly told attendees at a campaign event that she supports the death penalty — in limited use and in limited cases, but she still supports it. And that’s a position that isn’t shared by much of the Democratic primary base.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her main opponent in the Democratic contest, called for the abolition of the death penalty in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, a move that highlighted the issue and the fact that he is to her left on it.

“We are all shocked and disgusted by some of the horrific murders that we see in this country, seemingly every week,” Mr. Sanders said. “And that is precisely why we should abolish the death penalty. At a time of rampant violence and murder, the state should not be part of that process.”

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/30/death-penalty-could-provide-debate-fodder-for-hillary-clinton-and-bernie-sanders/?_r=0