The New York Times Editorial Board - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

In 1992, Bill Clinton ran on the promise of “two for the price of one”: If he was elected, Americans would also get Hillary Clinton, lawyer and activist Democrat, working for them in the White House.



Mrs. Clinton advocated for some of the most significant initiatives of her husband’s presidency, which were most often the product of compromise in a divided Congress. Indeed, many Democrats revere Mr. Clinton as the leader who brought the party back from the political wilderness by eschewing ideological purity in favor of a more incremental, politically centrist philosophy.



That legacy and experience lies at the heart of Mrs. Clinton’s approach as “a progressive who gets things done.” And the 1994 crime bill, which has emerged as a hot-button issue in the current campaign, is a good example in both its substance and the style of the Clinton manner of policy making.



The crime bill was a bipartisan legislative response to a surge in murders and other violent crimes linked to the drug trade that affected all Americans, but especially minority communities. The multipart legislation created programs to keep small-time drug offenders out of prison, financed drug treatment programs and put more cops on the streets in troubled communities. It also included a ban on certain types of assault weapons long sought by gun-control advocates, which has since expired. It played a part in reducing crime rates, but it also contributed to a rise in the prison population — of both violent criminals and low-level offenders — though it wasn’t solely responsible for the phenomenon known as mass incarceration.





Hillary Clinton Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Photo by: Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Mrs. Clinton has said she regrets her past statements promoting the crime bill as a way to bring “to heel” the era’s young “super-predators.” Bill Clinton has reflected on the crime bill’s legacy, and expressed regret at the havoc that harsher punishments and stricter sentences created in poor and minority communities.



It’s puzzling that Mrs. Clinton hasn’t addressed in detail the trade-offs and the consequences, good and bad, of that legislation. That’s a problem, because even though Bernie Sanders voted for the crime bill (it contained certain provisions he supported), some of his supporters view the bill as the type of compromise that they reject.



The New York Times Editorial Board - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com