CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2015: on Crime

Scott Walker: Independent investigation for any death in police custody

A: I'm going to have the backs of the men and women who carry the badge in this country. I know the overwhelming majority of them are doing the right thing every day under extremely difficult circumstances. In the rare instances if they're not, we're going to speak out about that. I'm proud to say I'm the only governor in America who signed a law that says there needs to be an independent investigation any time there's a death of someone in police custody.

John Kasich: Save money by converting prisoners to taxpayers

A: Well, it relates to things like early childhood education, poor kids, people who are in prison, giving them a chance to get their lives back if they want to earn their way there. But let me say that I knew that, number one, we would save money by taking people out of prison and letting them get a job where they could become a taxpayer. To me conservatism is giving everybody a chance to be able to be successful.

John Kasich: Community must understand challenge of police & deadly force

A: We came out with a unanimous recommendation to create a statewide policy on the use of deadly force, and examination and recruiting and hiring practices [amongst police forces]. And now it is really critical that the community understands the challenges of police and that police can understand what is going on inside the community.

Chris Christie: Community policing will avoid African-American police deaths

A: I think that there's a problem across the country with our citizens and our police force interacting with each other in a positive, constructive way. We need to engage in a different way. And you see what we have done in Camden. There we brought in an entirely new police force and we trained them in a different way in community policing.

Q: Recently Hillary Clinton said, "race still places a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind"; do you agree?

A: I think there's still racism in our society. And every leader in our country should be speaking out against that and should be doing everything we can to provide opportunity for everyone.