Sally Yates in Buzzfeed.com
On Principles & Values:
Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds
If there's any message, whether it's for my kid who's this one, who's too young to vote, or those that are able to vote, you gotta be part of this. You can't sit on the sidelines and read your iPhone and be on social media and expect everything to be
cool. You have to be part of this. You have to make change. Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds, getting lazy. And I think that's a very important lesson to come out of this election.
Source: Buzzfeed blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Dec 28, 2016
On War & Peace:
Not intervening against Assad was the right choice
[On avoiding war with Syria]: That was the right choice. I think for us to have gotten in the middle of the civil war is brutal and painful and traumatic as it is, would have been a wrong choice. It was not in our interest to get involved in another
complex civil conflict. It is in our interest to try to deal with the terrorist threat. It is in our interest to provide massive amounts of humanitarian assistance. But I don't think we should have intervened militarily against Assad.
Source: Buzzfeed blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Dec 28, 2016
On Crime:
Seeking justice means seeking a proportional sentence
[On criminal justice:] "Certainly we want to incentivize those who are in prison to participate in prison programs that will reduce recidivism," she said. "But that doesn't mean that we don't have an obligation to have a fair and proportional sentencing
system in place on the front end. And I believe that our current system needs some adjustment in that regard.""It's really essential we pair any back-end reform with meaningful front-end reform," Yates said later.
"At the risk of sounding really corny now, I'm a career prosecutor. I've been doing this for a very long time. And I believe in holding people responsible when they violate the law," she said. "But our sole responsibility is to seek justice.
And sometimes that means a very lengthy sentence, for people who are dangerous and from which society must be protected. But it always means seeking a proportional sentence. And that's what this sentencing reform is really about."
Source: Buzzfeed blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Jul 22, 2015
On Drugs:
Mandatory minimum sentences not needed in drug cases
Yates has been saying for years that mandatory minimums--which don't apply in the vast majority of cases federal prosecutors coerce cooperation from all the time--aren't necessary to put high-level drug offenders behind bars.
Now she's overseeing the process by which prosecutors move away from mandatory minimums, and she's one of the leading advocates in the administration push to eliminate mandatory minimums altogether in most cases.
Source: Buzzfeed blog on 2020 Veepstakes
Jul 22, 2015
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