Rand Paul in The Washington Times

On Crime: Death penalty is a state issue

Rand Paul said that the disproportionate number of minorities in the nation's prisons convinced him to push for sentencing reform and restoring voting rights to some convicted felons ahead of a possible presidential run in 2016. However, the fact that there are a disproportionate number of minorities on death row in the US has not led him to scrutinize capital punishment. He said the death penalty is a state issue: "I haven't had a lot of feedback specifically on that," Paul said in a phone interview. "I just haven't taken a position on the death penalty."

White people have accounted for more than half of all executions in the United States since 1976. Kentucky has executed three people since 1976--all white males--but none since 2008. The state's death penalty has been on hold since 2010 pending the outcome of a state lawsuit.

Paul said he did not know if the death penalty is an important issue to minority voters, whom he has been courting in recent months.

Source: Washington Times 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Jul 24, 2014

On Drugs: Whites & blacks use drugs, but prisons are full of blacks

In the past two months, Paul has introduced a series of bills designed to reform the criminal justice system. The bills would abolish mandatory minimum sentences, restore voting rights to some convicted felons, help people expunge their criminal records and downgrade some felonies to misdemeanors. All of Paul's proposals would benefit minorities that Paul said have been impacted by the "war on drugs." Paul said, "Even though whites used drugs at the same rate as black kids, the prisons are full of black kids and brown kids. There are Republicans trying to correct this injustice."

In February, Paul pressed Republicans in the Kentucky Senate to pass a bill that would restore voting rights to some convicted felons. It ultimately failed.

Paul plans to talk about those issues in a speech Friday at the National Urban League's annual conference in Cincinnati. He said his ideas have been well received in minority communities because "people are ready for something to happen."

Source: Washington Times 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Jul 24, 2014

The above quotations are from Media coverage of political races in The Washington Times. Click here for other excerpts from Media coverage of political races in The Washington Times. Click here for other excerpts by Rand Paul. Click here for a profile of Rand Paul.
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