Bill Clinton: 1994 Crime Bill 'Made the Problem Worse'

Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday he has some regrets about signing a crime bill during his administration that "made the problem worse."

According to BuzzFeed News, Clinton made the remark at the NAACP national convention in Philadelphia.

"I signed a bill that made the problem worse. And I want to admit it," Clinton said. "Most of these people are in prison under state law, but the federal law set a trend. And that was overdone. We were wrong about that. That percentage of it, we were wrong about."

Signed in 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act imposed harsher sentences and put 100,000 more police officers on the streets, among other things.

Clinton has talked about his regrets over the law in recent months, saying in May, "The problem is the way it was written and implemented. We have too wide a net. We have too many people in prison."

On Wednesday, Clinton told the NAACP audience he had good intentions in mind when he signed the bill into law.

"When I took office we had had a roaring decade of rising crime," Clinton said, according to BuzzFeed. "We had gang warfare on the streets. We had little children being shot dead on the streets who were just innocent bystanders standing in their own place. We had kids in Los Angeles doing drills in their schools to learn how to drop down and get under their desk because of drive-by shootings."

According to Politico, Clinton said Wednesday the law "was overdone."

"In that bill, there were longer sentences and most of these people are in prison under state law, but the federal law set a trend. And that was overdone, we were wrong about that," he said. "The good news is we had the biggest drop in crime in history … The bad news is we had a lot of people who were essentially locked up who were minor actors for way too long."

In April, Hillary Clinton — the leading Democrat in the race for president — said if she becomes president, she will advocate for a reform of the criminal justice system.

"It's time to end the era of mass incarceration," she said.

Related Stories:

• Sudden Spike in Violent Crime Across US Raises Alarm
• NYT Study: Crime, Prison Taking Huge Toll on Young Black Males