A retroactive litmus test on leading Democratic candidates

anIf this blog post from The Atlantic Online is accurate, it confirms my deep concerns about how Hillary Clinton would approach crime and punishment issues as president.  The post is titled “Clinton, Obama, Edwards Differ On Retroactivity,” and it reports that “Clinton opposes [retroactivity of the USSC’s new crack amendments], and Edwards and Obama support it.”

So, assuming this is accurate, let’s review the line-up: the prominent opponents to retroactivity for the new USSC guidelines are President Bush’s Justice Department (noted here), Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee (noted here), and now Senator Hillary Clinton.

As I have detailed in prior posts (some of which are linked below), I have long been troubled by the Clinton “brand” when it comes to criminal sentencing issues.  But, of course, most of the troublesome record on these issues involved decisions by Hillary’s husband.  Now, assuming this blog report is accurate, we have a very strong basis to believe that Hillary herself favors tough-on-crime rhetoric over sound sentencing policy.  Now who should be accused of taking a page out of the Republican play book?

Some recent posts on crack guideline retroactivity issues:

• USSC hearing testimony on crack amendment retroactivity
• A report on the USSC crack retroactivity hearing
• Media coverage of crack retroactivity hearing
• Inside the Beltway views on crack amendment retroactivity
• Effective coverage of crack retroactivity debate
• USSC analysis on potential crack amendment retroactivity impact
• Thoughtful review of crack amendment retroactivity debate
• Latest FSR issue covers crack sentencing

Some recent posts on sentencing politics in the 2008 campaign:

• Clinton and Obama, crime and punishment
• Will sentencing issues surface in the Clinton-Obama battle for black votes?
• Politics and the war on drugs
• Should criminal justice reform be the new civil rights movement?
• Honoring MLK by asking hard questions
• Obama talking about serious sentencing reform

UPDATE:  I now see that this item at Politico has more on this story.  Here are some telling details:

Clinton, who said she supports a federal recommendation for shorter sentences for some people caught with crack cocaine, opposed making those shorter sentences retroactive — which could eventually result in the early release of 20,000 people convicted on drug charges.  “In principle I have problems with retroactivity,” she said. “It’s something a lot of communities will be concerned about as well.” 

In an interview after the debate, Clinton’s pollster, Mark Penn, pointed out that the Republican front-runner has already signaled that he will attack Democrats on releasing people convicted of drug crimes.

Her five rivals present on stage — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich — all said they favor making the shorter sentences retroactive.

“Rudy Giuliani is already going after the issue,” Penn said. “He’s already starting to attack Democrats, claiming it will release 20,000 convicted drug dealers.”

So, besides suggesting that Hillary Clinton gets her crime and punishment ideas from the Giuliani campaign, this issue ought to help Democratic primary voters who care about principled sentencing reform know that not all the candidates are the same.  (I am now wondering if keep prison populations growing is part of Hillary’s universal health-care plan.)

MORE:  I am pleased to see TalkLeft picking up this story, calling Clinton’s position “a huge disappointment.”  I also see MyDD has this post saying that “Hillary’s position is really astonishing.”  I hope other prominent political bloggers will keep on this important issue which provides, at least for me, a great litmus test on true principle versus (mis-perceived) political pragmatism.