On Feb. 11, PBS hosted the Milwaukee Democratic debate. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders participated in the event. Candidates made the following statements throughout the debate, and The Current staff determined the verdicts after heavy research of reputable sources. Full transcripts of the debate can be found online at The Washington Post, The New York Times and other sources.
- “The American people are looking around, and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the U.S. than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We’re spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans.”—Bernie Sanders, in his opening statement
- According to BBC, the prison population in the U.S. is approximately 2,193,798 people.
- CBS News reported in 2014 that the U.S. does spend approximately $80 billion a year on incarceration.
- VERDICT: True.
- “I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven’t had a raise in 15 years.”—Hillary Clinton, in her opening statement
- The Social Security Administration reported that, from 2001 to 2014, the national average wage index increased from 32,921.92 to 46,481.52. The only segment in that time frame that didn’t show an increase was from 2008 to 2009, when the index decreased from 41,334.9 to 40,711.61.
- VERDICT: True.
- “Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent?”—Bernie Sanders, on the economy
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of Feb. 5, 2016, 7.8 million, or 4.9 percent of the U.S. population, is unemployed, and 6 million people were employed part-time. This is almost equivalent to 10 percent.
- The BLS also reported that the unemployment rate for African-Americans aged 16 to 19 is 25.2 percent, as of January 2016. The 50 percent Sanders is referring to comes from research from the Economic Policy Institute that showed that 51.3 percent of black high school graduates are underemployed. It is important to note that the students used in this research were between the ages of 17 and 20 and were not enrolled in further schooling.
- The most important aspect to pay attention to is Sanders’ use of “unemployment.” Unemployment, according to Investopedia, is when someone is actively looking for a job but is unable to find work. “Underemployment,” on the other hand, is a measure of how people are utilizing the labor force in terms of skills, experience and availability to work, according to Investopedia. These workers are highly-skilled but working in low-paying or low-skill jobs or are part-time workers who prefer to be full-time. Unlike people who are unemployed, underemployed persons are working but not to their full potential.
- VERDICT: Half true. Although Sanders was right about the first statistic, he was only partly accurate about his later statistic. Sanders failed to use the correct terminology, as the report he referenced was focused on underemployment, rather than unemployment, which made the statistic misleading.
- “The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average.”—Hillary Clinton, on black incarceration
- According to a University of Wisconsin report, the state incarcerated 12.8 percent of African-American men. The national average is 6.7 percent. The other top incarceration rates were 9.7 percent, 9.4 percent, 9.1 percent and 8.6 percent for Oklahoma, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, respectively. The report used data from an April 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report.
- VERDICT: True.
- “The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites.”—Bernie Sanders, on black incarceration
- In an article in The Washington Post, in 2010, the incarceration rate for blacks was more than 700 per 100,000 people, and, for whites, it was just under 200 per 100,000 people. This article also showed that, in the same year, less than 15 percent of blacks used marijuana within the previous year, and nearly 12 percent of whites used marijuana in the previous year.
- The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that, in 2011, more than 12 percent of blacks were stopped for traffic violations, while less than 10 percent of white were pulled over for the same offense; however, the reasoning for the violations are higher for different races. While white drivers were pulled over more than blacks for speeding, sobriety checks, seatbelts, cellphones and stop signs/lights, black drivers had a higher stop rate for vehicle defects, record checks, illegal turns and no given reason.
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported in 2014 that sentencing for black males was nearly 20 percent longer than those on white males for similar crimes.
- VERDICT: True.
- “Look, I am deeply concerned about what’s happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths.”—Hillary Clinton, on the working class
- The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a report that said that the death rates for whites aged 45 to 54 in the U.S. has increased since before 2000. Since that time, there has been a steep incline in deaths by poisoning, suicide and chronic liver disease.
- VERDICT: True.
