violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. these are illegal actions which set the scene for war crimes and crimes against humanity. those responsible must be brought to justice. in this context, it is extremely strikely there are no direct references in the report to military operations in which the al nusra front took part during the reporting period though there are several references to isis and the nonstate factors which by the way is a misnomer. this act of information unfortunately does not help an understanding of what is happening on the ground. we also reject the fact that -- they are using civilians of ethnic groups, minorities, as human shields. these actions must be em fatically rejected by the

international community. this is an attempt on human dignity. it is high time that the actions are no longer sheltered under the umbrella of ka so called nonstate factors. we continue to condemn the practices of the so-called nonstate actors and isis of using basic services, such as basic services as weapons of war. we also re jject emphatically t destruction of the cultural heritage of syria affected by the totalitarian division of isis which wants to eliminate any historical vestiges of the past which does not cohen side with their vision of religion.

we wish to raise our voice in defense of the children of syria. we denounce terrorist attacks on children and we call on the international community to mobilize in their defense. in the search for a negotiated political solution to the conflict, we welcome the fact that the participation of the syrian government is taking into account in the consultations. the syrian government is a prime actor for an agreement. pretending that the contrary is the case and stressing the fact makes no sense. it simply condemns syrian people to greater suffering and all humanity to labyrinth of uncertainty. it will only postpone the solution. we reiterate our support to the work of the special envoy for

syria, who has full support towards reaching peaceful, political solution to the conflict with full participation of all parties involved in the conflict and the government of president bashar al assad. we are closely following the results of negotiations in vienna and the implementation of immediate cease-fire, which will help pal tate the humanitarian situation. hope to have access to all by the parties as a member of the security council to in order to contribute the necessary unanimity in the work of this council. we call for negotiated solution to this crisis. the people of syria have paid an extremely heavy price to defend its integrity, sovereignty, defeat terrorism. the international community must

mobilize to restore peace. syriai syr syria unfortunate have become a laboratory of horror and death. history will judge those guilty for this atrocity. thank you very much, madam president. >> thank you for his statement. i now give the floor to the representative of malaysia. >> madam president i thank you for convening the important meeting and presiding over. like earlier speakers before me i wish to convey our deepest condolences to delegation and people of france and appalling terrorist attacks in paris last friday. we stand in solidarity with france in this time of grief. in the same sentiment condolences extended to lebanon, tunisia, egypt. madam president i thank mr. o'brien and others for respective contributions to the meeting. all of which have underscored

the desperate situations and need for urgent action in syria. alongside other council members, we follow the outcome of the most recent talks in reenna and announce the road map towards peaceful development of conflict in syria. my de delegation stands ready on this matter. madam president, in as much as political we'll play a large part in securing agreement in vienna, will remain deeply concerned by the astounding toll of the syrian conflict to date. more than 250,000 people dead, over 1 million people injured, over 7.6 million people displaced, roughly 13. 5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 5.6 million children at which life expe expectancy shortened by 13

years. school attendance less than 30%. parties to the conflict remain indifferent to pain and suffering inflicted upon syrian people. acts of impunity continue unabated. we remind all parties of the conflict of the obligations to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law. the syrian conflicts also continue to be characterized by indiscriminate attacks and deliberate targeting of civilian and civilian infrastructure. the use of bombs and toxic chemicals by the parties to the conflict are particularly abhorrent. malaysia remains deeply concerned by continued report of sexual violence against women, girls and children, committed by partied to the conflict. women and girls not only face

rape and sexual abuse, they also affect slave and forced into marriage to foreign marriage. is disgraceful that children are stripped of their innocence and deprived of protections. the recruitment and use of children is becoming increasingly commonplace. reports that children are being used as forced labor, as sex slave, and even as human shields are deeply disturbing. the siege mentality or strategy ensuring submission and surrender of the operation is a further disconcerting to the syrian conflict. it is appalling that such a method has been employed as a strategy of war by the parties to the conflict. the fact that even schools and hospitals have been deliberately targeted is a reflection of the absolute disrespect, disregard and contempt that the parties to the conflict have for the values of humanity. madam president, in the face of

such misery and desperations, we are -- by the various u.n. agencies in providing much-needed humanitarian aid and support to the civilian population in syria and commend the efforts. in this regard we deeply regret across line access continues to face security and administrative obstacles. the populations in the hard to reach areas remain critical. madam president, on our part, my government is constantly taking steps to honor its commitment to take in 3,000 syrian refugees. we call on international community to do as much as possible to help syrian people in their time of need. i thank you. >> i thank the representative of malaysia for his statement. i now give the floor to the representative of nigeria. >> thank you, madam president.

we welcome you to the security council and we thank you for convening to this meeting. we also want to thank you for -- we express our appreciation to the secretary-general for his monthly report on the subject. we also want to join other delegations in expressing very deep condolences to the people of france, lebanon, on the horrific despigable attacks on the population by isis. the briefing we have had today and the report of the secretary-general clearly indicate humanitarian situation in syria remains dire. the conflict continues to take a heavy toll on the civilian population, noncombatants, especially women and children, face grave hardship with hundreds of thousands trapped in

besieged areas. s is it deeply troubling international humanitarian law continues with impunity by the parties of conflict. over the past month, hundreds of civilians have been kill or injured or maimed in direct or indiscriminate attacks in populated areas. the warring parties must refrain from actions that jeopardize civilians. it constitutes a war crime and those responsible for such acts are war criminals, must be brought to justice. we note the commitment of government of syria to refrain from the indiscriminate use of weapons. we condemn the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, which is causing

cut in water and electricity supplies. we also condemn attack from health care facilities and medical personnel as well as denial -- it is regrettable that the delivery of humanitarian challenging due to active conflict, insecurity, and administrative bottlenecks. there is a need for humanitarian actors to be allowed to perform their duties without hindrance. the parties must facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to affected people throughout the country. we want to pay tribute to the u.n. humanitarian agencies and unrelenting efforts of reaching the millions of people in need,

in need of aid, despite challenges and operating environment. we do recognize the u.n. mechanism is fulfilling by ensuring the strictly humanitarian nature of the united nations humanitarian shipments. we conmend governments of jordan and turkey for cooperation with this mechanism. madam president, i clearly indicated this afternoon, as in the briefing, the plight of children affected by the syrian conflict is deeply disturbing. the use of children in combat has become commonplace in syria. we are particularly concerned about cases of abduction, killing and maiming of children as well as attacks on schools. we underscore the need for international community to act syrian children from the

disastrous consequences of war. sexual violence in the syrian conflict is also a matter of great concern. as stated, displaced women and girls are at risk of various form of sexual exploitation including sexual enslavement, mass rape and forced killings and forced marriage. we condemn these acts in the strongest terms. these affairs underscores the need for more to be done to protect women and girls, and the sev seven-point strategy of what can be done is worth exploring. madam president, we must all admit the cause and effect relationship between the humanitarian situation and the conflict in syria is what we must explore further. the solution to this

humanitarian crisis in syria lies and ends in the conflict and path to end in the conflict is in negotiation. after five years of fighting, it should be clear to the parties that there can be no military solution. we encourage the warring parties to lay down their arms and pursue negotiated solution. the meetings in vienna involved an expanded group of international stakeholders provided much needed -- we believe sustenance will provide an opportunity to develop framework of peace along the key pieces of the geneva community. i would hope they would lead to lasting peace, resolution and stability in syria. i thank you. >> a thank the representative of

nigeria for her statement. i now give the floor to the representative of chad. >> madam president, thank you for leading the session. before we start, allow me to associate my voice with that of previous speakers. to pay tribute to the french government and people for their steadfastedness in light of this barbaric act of terrorism which struck them. we condemn the horrendous act. we'd like to extend our condolences to lebanon and lebanese people who also fell victim to terrorism. i'd like to convey my gratitude to mr. steven o'brien and the other two for their briefings. close to five years now, violent fighting on a almost daily basis

marked the live of the syrian people. horrendous statistics of displaced people, refugees, of day further plunge syrians into a situation of despair. the humanitarian situation in the country continues to deteriorate. this despite the huge effort undertaken by united nations staff members and we'd like to pay tribute to their courage and their commitment we condemn all attacks committed against innocent civilian. as well as the basic vital infrastructure of the country and ask all parties to immediately lift all obstacles to the access of humanitarian aid for yicivilians in combat areas including besieged zones. we would like to reiterate for

all parties to put an end to the violence and underscore their obligation to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights resolution 2139. there's a need here to recall and that this systemic refusal to provide humanitarian access to civilian population depriving them from the basic necessities they require for their survival, which is water, medicine, are serious violation of human dignity and the most basic principles of international humanitarian law. madam president, the security council meetings on syria succeed one another without any improvement in the situation experienced by the long, suffering syrian people.

it's high time for security council to consider firmer, strong, more robust concrete measures to put an end to the human tragedy which is being experienced by syria. of international humanitarian laws and reduced the security council to the role of a powerless observer. we urge the donor community to respond to the various calls and appeals for humanitarian financing, which would enable the united nations staff members and partners to provide the necessary assistance to the civilian population in need. both within and outside syria. becoming winter will expose civilian population to very difficult living conditions.

for this reason, we require special mobilization by the community as we've have always said, humanitarian action, despite its scale, will never be able to substitute itself in the political process. and this is a reason why we have to step up our efforts aimed at helping the parties to find a negotiated solution to the conflict. a/jli0wñ solution which is able an end to the suffering of the syrian people and launch an inclusive political solution. inclusive political solution. behooves states possessing anyg parties to spare no effort, to prompt them to commit themselves in good faith to direct negotiations to implement the geneva,z kucommunique. ntr(t&háhp &hc% >> i thank the representative of clad for his statement. i give the floor to the

representative of chile. >> translator: thank you, madam president. we welcome you, secretary of state, for international development of the united kingdom. we are also grateful for the presentations of the deputy secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, steven o'brien, and representatives of the secretary-general on sexual violence on the conflict and the issue of children in conflict. we extend our condolences in solidarity to the victims, families of the victims, the people of the government of franceúand people of government of lebanon and all countries and regions who daily suffer from the scourge of terrorism. any act of terrorism is criminal and unjustifiable and the

organizers and backers must be brought to justice. madam president, the latest report of the secretary-general is one of the many warnings that the situation in syria has become unsustainable. the conflict breaks down the basic conditions for a society, syrian society's identity, security and dignity. it is impossible to remain indifferent faced with the enormous vulnerability and effects of the crisis on the civilian population. which cannot access indispensable, basic elements for its daily life. all parties are aware of their grave consequences of the facts which cannot take shelter in impunity. those responsible must be brought to justice. we reiterate the need to promote

mechanisms to protect the population, opening corridors, displaced people's camps and areas which are difficult to gain access to. because imperative to the conditions to ensure respect for humanitarian law and humanitarian resolutions calling on parties to refrain from continued attacking medical facilities, schools and basic infrastructure. madam president the presentation we heard from special representative simply confirms the gravity of the situation of sexual violence and gender violence in the syrian conflict. where it has been used not only as a tactic of war but tactic of terror. it is essentialsvlurzw÷ for the nations to prevent measured based on the situation noted on

the ground. we must fully implement tolerance for sexual violence. also concerned at the devastating consequences of constant attacks on boys and girls and limited access to education amongst other fundamental rights. we cannot allow generation to be lost and we are responsible as security council when it comes to the tragedy, as pointed out. it is fundamental to implement the declaration of safe schools as wells resolution 2143 of this council to protect schools from military use during armed conflict. lastly, we wish to conclude by reiterating the political situation is the only path to respond to humanitarian needs.

recent talks in vienna are a glimmer of hope and we call for implementation of the vienna communique of october 30th and elements agreed upon by the international syria support group. also essential to have political process led by syrians themselves as enshrined in the geneva communique. however the political solution will continue to be as far away as the situation is militarized we call for an end to supply and flow of weapons to all parties. thank you very much, madam president. >> i thank the representative of chile for his statement. i now give the floor to the representative of france.

>> madam president, allow me to start by thanking all of the speakers for their briefings, o'brien, they remind us with their work how many civilians, how many women, how many children suffer directly in syria. i would also like to thank in a heartfelt way all of those who extended to my country the sympathy as well as solidarity after the horrible attacks committed on november 13th. on that day, france was struck at the very heart in paris by terrorist attacks masterminded and planned in syria. the record, as you know, is a very heavy one, at least 129 dead, over 300 injured, and a

great many individuals who right now, as we speak, still hang on between life and death. france received a great many gestures of solidarity and friendship throughout the world. these gestures, these messages touch us and illustrate the unanimous support which international community has led my country. france, of course, was not the only country which was attacked friday evening, at least 19 different nationalities were affected. our thoughts go to families of the victims both in france but our thoughts also go to all of the families which were affected these last few months by terrorism which acknowledges -- lebanon, turkey, denmark, kuwait, libya, tunisia, egypt, and other countries yet.

madam president, i am the representative of a country which is still standing, which is united, more determined than ever before in the past who speaks to you. we are committed to combatting terrorism, a respect for the laws and rule of law. the motto of the friend. republic never meant more. france is a free and independent country, strong in terms of its multicultur multiculturalality, the france hit on friday, november 13th. the monster feeds of ethnic and religious division in the region and beefed up by hatred and rejection of the other. it oppresses and massacres people in the middle east on a me

? ñ wealth whe mankind. we need to bei: guidef5ruuz udo objectives and they compliment! -do. a resolute determined -- there's a need for resolute determined fight against terror up. the whole international community can be united in this fight. adopt a resolution aimed at fighting againstujc'& terroris. also called for togetherness within the framework of a great and united international coalition to combine our strength and our means to destroy daish. daish is a common enemy and we must put an end to those who destroy and kill such determination.

finally, the search for a political solution in syria more necessary than ever before. syria has become the greatest factory in manufacturing terrorists. members of the council and countries in the region must unite to relaunch a political transition, one in which bashar al assad is not part of the solution. there's a need to achieve concrete progress in the field of humanitarian issues as well as the cessation of all indiscriminate attack of civilians vienna, france, made a number of concrete proposals at a time when the situation on the ground, which is already alarming, is further deteriorating. the resolutions adopted by this council must be implemented without delay. this is something -- it is

crucial that we stand united in the face of these two objectives. the refugee crisis is one of the most direct consequences of the humanitarian disaster. if it lasts this situation cannot ub create a highly destabilizing situation. more important than ever before to help the countries bordering on syria, they after all host the greatest number of refugees and i wish to thank them here for this. right after the country's other other region europe is at the front line. inhabitants of iraq and syria, including territories control by daish are fleeing because of being oppressed. welcoming them in a dignified way, a moralgbq÷añf

destabilization, france will never renounce what she is, a free country, and she will never renounce her values. we overcome this trial. but we, international community, must stand united and together defend the universal principles. determination of france is absolute. thank you. >> i thank the representative of i now give the floor to the representative of the syrian arab republic. >> translator: thank you, mr. president. the way certain security council address the situation in syria reminds me of a quote by shakespeare, there is an elephant in the room.

this means that there is a huge, visible problem that cannot be overlooked. however, certain members in this chamber pretend that it doesn't exist. and they choose not address it or seek a solution to it. this is precisely how council members address the situation in syria. when the decision makers ignored the key surge destabilizing syria, the region and the whole world, the scourge which was the reason for humanitarian tragedy besetting several areas in syria which was the main reason for the suffering of children and women in syria, and transforming segments of the syrian people to

idps and refugees. this scourge is that tra transboundary terrorism fund by well-known state, chief among them, saudi arabia, the blood line that provides life to terrorism. the scourge of terrorism was unleashed from the what hab byness, it struck in a bare barrick and indiscriminate manner, da mass kas, baghdad, kuwait, tunisia, libya, algeria, sydney, boston, paris, and other states. and other cities. condemning in the strongest terms the terrorist act, paris, and expressing our condolences to the families of the victims, we recall that in this very

chamber there are members who prevented the security council nine times from issuing a mere press statement condemning similar attacks that targeted innocent civilians in da ma s d aleppo and others. what we have witnessed in the cities did not come from a vacuum and it has not -- did not happen by chance. it is the certain outcome of the attempt of certain parties to ignore this issue and to -- failure to address it with the serious and attention that is required. so long as it struck the other this is a certain outcome of the exploitation by certain parties to blackmail the syrian

government. we have warned those have fall silent will be burnt by terrorism because it is a dynamic transbou boundarboundar. however, our calls fell on deaf ears rather certain states managed to make terrorism enter the political arena from the main door. they resorted to workings, dividing terror up into two categories. calling certain terrorists moderate opposition, disregarding the consequences of such. and not realizing that if you have a political problem with syrian government, this is a negotiable issue. but if you resort to sanctions

and if you fund terrorism and if you refuse to what the syrian -- this is a crime that you commit against your own people. as much as it is a crime against syrian people, because, as you know, we are in syria, we are fighting on behalf of the whole world, filthy terrorist groups, every time the syrian army kills a foreign terrorist, dozens of innocent victims, potential victims are protected. when this terrorist go back home and do the same thing, those who

distort this reality is an accomplice in terrorism. he or she is a partner in the bloodshed of victims. recall the perpetrators of many terrorist attacks in several cities in the world, including the recent bloody attacks against paris where, among the thousands of europeans whose entry into syria facilitated as jihadists. after receiving -- funded by well-known gulf states, there is an awakening on the seriousness of terrorism. that led the president of a permanent security council member to amend the constitution of his country to face to the

terrorism. hence, acts should accompany words with regard to combatting terrorism in syria, that is funded by 40 states, in addition to the illegal trade of oil and the illegal trade of artifacts in syria through our borders with turkey. this requires serious political will to implement relevant resolution on combatting terrorism. which were asserted by the second communique. this requires also concerted, coordinated, collective efforts unone front against terrorism,

away from the political opponents or amateurs. time and again, we have expressed our resonance to cooperate with any state that is serious in combatting terrorism. this is precisely what has happened through the joint syrian, russian military nopgs combatting terror up in addition to then tell against coordination between syria, iraq, iran, russia, which led to practical results in the field, namely retreat by terrorist groups in many areas which led to the secure, safe, voluntary return of 1 million syrian idps to their home. addressing terrorism, sir, leads me to address the political solution of the crisis in syria.

combatting terrorism seriously and effectively will contribute to the successful -- to the success of the solution. from outset the syrian government expressed readiness to contribute to any serious efforts in order to achieve political solution. this is why we cooperated with mr. kofi an an, aaccepting his six-point plan. we've then cooperated to the geneva ii conference. we cooperated and accepted the proposal on aleppo and accepted to take part in the four working groups, suggested by him. our political message to you, ladies and gentlemen, following the end of the vienna meeting is that the syrian government stands ready to contribute to

any sincere effort in order to achieve a political solution where syrians decide their own future and their choices through dialogue among syrians under syrian leadership without external intervention in a manner that accuse the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity of syria. this what has been asserted by the several resolution adopted by the council in addition to the vienna communiques. unfortunately the recent reports by the secretary-general on the implementation of resolutions 2139, 2165, 2191, was politicized by us including ereas

ereas erroneous information. we introduced two letters on this issue. i wish to address a serious matter in this report, namely, report is based on unreliable sources from sources whose connections are very well known, which mislead the members of the council. with regard to the allegation that the government is using indiscriminate weapons i assert that the syrian army does not, has not, will not, use any indiscriminate weapons. it acts in accordance with international law in the framework of combatting terrorism. those who are killing civilians are those who are using them as

human shields in many areas in syria, including our deliberati deliberations on the dangers of terrorism and importance of combatting should not be misunderstood, but we do not realize the seriousness of the humanitarian situation in syria, the situation of our children and our women, that this should not be at the expense on the crux of the problem and should not be politicized or should not be subjected to double standards. we are in discussion with mr. o'brien. we have organized missions to syria in order to address any outstanding issues. i welcome mr. o'brien's visit next month to syria. we stand ready to cooperate with

good intentions, security council members in order to improve the situation in syria. i thank you, sir. >> i thank the representative of the syrian arab republic for his statements. there are no more names

>> both guest were appointed to the bench by president reagan sold is not your typical left and right debate like in washington. receives the judges are in a unique position to contribute to the improvements of the lot ted administration of justice by writing articles and giving lectures in debating ideas to have an impact on the legal system. thinks for taking time out of their busy schedules to give us the benefit of their experiences from the bench that could improve the legal system. first and want to take a minute to raise a foundation for the discussion that will follow.

please yourself -- herself notice silenced as a courtesy. i should note at the outset we could have a three day conference still not cover the issues that pertain to the american criminal-justice system. just to put a few questions on the table if they want to focus on other issues, and that's fine to. then we can get to the questions after the debate. here are four questions to consider. do we have a problem with over criminalization?

to many criminal statutes criminalizing too much activity? number two. is the sentencing system to severe? but we incarcerating people longer than just or necessary? this is what the house of the senate are presently debating. third. do we have a problem with police and prosecutorial abuse. we do here by innocent people getting released from prison because of dna testing. are they always mistakes that our inevitable or are they indications of deeper problems spike government officials? fourth. what about the level of crime in our society? "the washington post" that baltimore has a 300 homicide of the year some of the crimes by.

what can be done to minimize this violence so we have you were crime victims? going first is the judge serving on the night circuit court of appeals. last week he marked the 30th year on the ninth circuit. congratulations. known for many things, his magic tricks and stronger romanian accent before his sharply worded opinions and articles. he wrote a scathing beauty -- critique entitled criminal law at 2.zero and his arguments have caused a stir in legal circles. because and i was talking to a prosecutor or snacked and

there was a column wrote on it last month. please give him a warm welcome. [applause] he has been engaged do debate the legal system especially those handed down by the supreme court. by the published to all newspapers and has written several books wages had of book forum for him a few months ago.

but he published an article last year titled in defense of the american criminal-justice system where he response to critics to make the point it has virtues plays welcome judge wilkinson back. [applause] spirit the format today is simple each judge will give the initial presentation and have a very brief second round given five minutes to respond to what the leather has said. does the criminal-justice system need an overhaul?

>> i have been observing the process 31 years the conclusion so based on what we think is experience. and much of weaponry ec is undermined by science and common sense.

the united states is an allied air in the number of people that it has. with get the numbers above who it has suffered 2.2 million behind bars. but compare that to their countries like tuna -- with a population and has four times the number of people but they have messieurs fuel in prison. but the of the one that is

good to have 60 percent of the present population in the is 17%. united states has about one quarter of the land and the brave and and and home of the free. >> do we get better policing and are we safer? like canada or the united kingdom? in some places in the indebted states, of

louisiana with 5 million people has far more prisoners than canadath 5 millin people has far more prisoners than canada with 36 million. there are those that means more than one for every 100 residents is in prison. i find that surprising and somewhat shocking. we have much harsher sentences for the same crime. is it justified? in terms of the costs that it the likelihood the likelihooo just the cost to themselves

but the perception in the memory of the witnesses. i don't have time everything but just to focus:scientific evidence. we take for granted and somebody comes up to give us a report to say this is the case that is a reality. but much of this science that the supreme court has

told us should be employed by with the scientific evidence. much about the except, we just assume that with various kinds of scientific evidence is put to the task and day test how often, a there are tremendous error rates. and a bite marks even fingerprints that is close to be the gold standard for decades. it turns out even when they

test not blatant test but for the actual there is a non trivial error rate that shows up. the poster child case is when the fbi says 100 percent edge in the bag linked to the bombings in the said the guys fingerprints' was an attorney enters the two days later they identified a different person with a 100 percent match so the fbi had to apologize to brand him an international criminal. at least he got an apology. not everybody does.

there is no validation necessary. but he was charged with setting fire to his house and his children were killed and they had an expert come and testify of fire had to have been excellent but it turns out that technique is widely used by people who were not experts. those that draw certain conclusions he was executed

in 2004. put this. >> but this deals with the area but many officers said different six with of process -- the process they're out to but he has

helped to build the prosecution's case. to have a forensic officer but it turned out that what he had done but was not scientific. and then to suggest.

if we get a match is only as safe as the people and a willing to be objective. but then to pass them off on the infinitive test results. right now there seems to be quite a bit of substance but

the of the 268 trials so far they have overstated the match including 32 death penalty cases. 95% of those cases they did not come up with the

objective standard her share of but i admit one dissident would not have been death eligible vince in three of the earth sprouts for missions if he could be exonerated. and they also said he and spend more but most people are lawyers.

end is in the case after case this was not being done. they must have hit in then

they live up to the standards but it doesn't pay very many or others just to be misguided lariat over the problem because of one gets a head because he lies a makes a harder for everybody else is to be take care of. so i was challenged by my colleagues have the you know, ? the answer is i don't know i can be sure but most are not signed out we have enough

key pieces we have no cause to worry there is that the prosecution failed. [laughter] if the read and nothing

else. by the books. [laughter] the foreword wilma's rights issue. but to talk about the steven's case and with the arthur andersen prosecution but no one to have to bribe of a brush but but does he say in a federal court but just like the cost case. their tests were taken. they found the then a so

rarely been led his tuesday accused in the nba did some terrible thing e thing with. >> the prosecutor held evidence of another man lurking, the prosecution hid in the evidence. this was before dna. said he said i would like to have some of the evidence

but not to allow the testing to go forward he did not want him exonerated but it took six years of the courts of texas and at that point it discovered to a man they were would who was tried and convicted but while he is imprisoned convicted of killing his wife and another murder happens in the neighborhood and now norwood was charged with that crime. the case is pending at want to say any more because pending prosecution but now

there is the strong suspicion that he committed the other murder but had they not hidden the evidence focusing on anybody else it is barely possible that a woman would still be alive today. now let's talk about "scooter" libby. it was based on information of a phone call that happened four years earlier. the woman on the event and was judith's -- judith miller but somehow he persuaded her that so the

plan is with the cia because just this year but she raises a horrifying possibility. read the boad the bo3 possibility. read the book. was then manipulated? said the prosecutor put it well. >> i will have to go very quickly. my time is running out. >> i will skip over that next part too many cases on things if you read the

opinion he needed to give instruction but it turns out they were convicted and at that point they were able to use steinberg now it could a file that's a separate case. but instead the second circuit notes it is a superseding indictment after the case was tried in a way

to bring them together for trial. but then other judges would give instruction as required by judge solomon did not they found a judge that they liked to do it incorrectly instead of filing the case in the normal course baptist is sleazy and i am surprised they have not brought discipline against agents that do that.

>> he was quickly put into a car with his hand cuffed there in the building before that obviously. >> he knew they were coming for him they asked him to surrender. a the prosecutors refused instead they come out of 5:00 in the morning and how do there happen to be cameras and reporters on the scene to film this? because he said i will be arrested, nancy me? no. they wanted the perp walk it

infects the injury pool it tarnishes those that area it to plead guilty. >> then we have federal prosecutors bragging about their cases. to interview the victim and what is the point? this is the lawyer you can

see spending 30 years then present he knows for sure he did not commit but he did it because his prosecutor and the police and after ford was released to say in 1984 rose 33 years old i was

there again, i judgmental not as interested in justice as i was in winning but that physical evidence was appeared jobs finance at its worst and i apologize for all the misery i have caused him. in an extraordinary interview with the local paper that the entire criminal justice system was broken. >> they don't care about the victim but their record. in my early thirties i was caught up in that insanity and we did not try people who were innocent. >> i submit you the answer

is yes. thank you. [applause] >> to be with my friend that cato ted many times i agree and others i don't but i am wonderful of the other one it to you think our friend

and and a stimulating article? with the distinction of the federal bench with the commentary and questions are helpful to us all. i came to the position of the criminal justice system it occurred to me and maybe the only one. [laughter] that greatest interest of academic studies and discussions and it was a relentless assault on the criminal justice system and

nobody had much good to say about it. it was very interesting but i did not notice from the complement. i thought somebody has to speak but don't get me wrong never, never persuade you it is run by human beings and but the question that i kept coming back to is what do we replace it with? what would you do instead?

that is the critics and why they fall short. what is the of primitive and don't bring them we need

sub-index of of these individuals fully deserve to be incarcerated. left over the last year but then the esteemed academic one of the most frequented this system is overly dependent on human memory. that may be so but how do we get around that?

hall could it be otherwise? we cannot impanel a jury on a crime scene. it takes time to interview witnesses. inevitably with that type time that it takes it will be dead after the criminally event itself to rely upon human memory and the judge says the prosecution enjoys the non-tariff advantage they can present person that is the case that sticks in the injuries might for i am not sure that is always correct sometimes it is the

words that you here last is the most influential but how else? you cannot have a defendant defending himself in a trial before he has been accused having him go first that is with the presumption of innocence we would never except that so it is a better example of a box of the system. my opponent also says it is so unfair because the police have the ability to wide the investigate a crime in during that course of the investigation acquire a familiarity of evidence that the defendant doesn't have

but the party bringing suit greatly enjoys investigated the advantage. so they do investigate because they are charged with initiating that is not something we can get around. beleaguered added feel more comfortable they are investigating i would not want them to cut corners. i would not want the police or prosecution to go forward with the half baked case so actually it turns exculpatory evidence and they think no further investigation is not the case at all.

the judge envisions a different role for criminal juries perhaps then they have played so far. going into the jury room with written instructions on the one hand it can serve as a good reference point. but not winders to act as an amateur wires. but the edgers discuss the

case among themselves while it is going on it is dangerous in a practical matter it will link them in a trial a great deal and remember recast jurors to serve, we are asking them to cut out time from their day and things that make that service longer puts a further imposition upon them. day really want jurors talking with each other about their impressions before all the evidence is in? it is much better in order to be fair minded way intel each side has awful chance to present evidence to bring in the jury's sentencing.

again i disagree. sentencing is different from a trial because the presumption of innocence has faded away if you have jurors that sentencing idled think they possess the day by day familiarity with the cases having jurors that since thing is like the trial itself and in that situation more evidentiary objections but what is happening to move closer to a trial model the grand juries are handmade to

become a more adversary proceeding have them get into the sentencing act with evidentiary hearings and if we keep going in this direction with these proceedings of grand juries in collateral attack that they resembled the trial you have a system to collapse under its own weight there are so many e accusations that they throw so many

arguments that you but you don't know where to begin. those that our dependent friendly bid in trying to do away with them. for the peremptory challenges that most if you are familiar with those to strike for many practical reason that they want but justice thurgood marshall that they should be done away with with that

particular position because there is to much of a chance they will be used racially to disqualify jurors. that has some validity to it were the case was marked down by the prosecution that is not before my court but that goes way beyond what we are prepared to accept you want to abolish those challenges altogether?

the defendant has more than the prosecution. the defendants exercises of the challenges is rarely challenged but printery challenges fill the important gap in the criminal justice system because they are never likely to eliminate the edgers from the system. but that is simply the tip of the iceberg you have done peremptory challenges to fill them out and the defendant is certainly should be able to say i cannot put my eight think you're on it but i think destroyer has it been for me

defendant should be able to strike an individual's life part company with a large number of critics who say they should not use them at all. to dealing with prosecutorial abuse that there are instances where prosecutors have behaved in a shameful way and those have been highlighted my friend is correct on that in

every way but tell us you did not mean it when you said to abolish absolute immunity from prosecution for prosecutors. does your position really take you that far? your article seems to suggest we should do away with absolute immunity for prosecutions. i disagree with that it is very damaging to have a civil damages action brought against a prosecutor there is the acquittal and that this would have been and sometimes you can create a

cause of action that you run the risk for those that may have merit if we did away for the absolute immunity what would we replace it with? you don't have to have full absolute immunity be you could have qualified immunity that turns out to be no immunity at all. it runs up against a summary judgment standard that says all have to be given to the non prevailing party so the

summary judgment standard draws these cases into trial and the supreme court has said many times the immunity is lost. you can tie at prosecutorial resources that more and more prosecutors are doing everything but prosecuting and the supreme court and has been firm on this question to a teacher from prosecution's sometimes they decline for various reasons.

sometimes it is easier to pick the low hanging fruit. so you run the risk from going from one end of the pendulum which i think would be the case if we did a dash deemed colleague in is suggesting. tacked on plea-bargain in. the atm is it it is nothing but the assembly line that people run through without any sensitivity or day plead guilty because of the risks

they face a more serious punishment at trial. so it needs to be qualified. if public defenders are correct they have too many cases on their docket it but you cannot deny somebody there right to have the advantageous plea because nowhere in the process does the defendant have more leverage. the prosecutor does not want to go to trial or extend those resources and is willing to plead in eppley bargain provides them with all kinds of options having

charges dismissed, not be brought, except the recommended sentence if agreed to. at the trial those options are off the table the defendant doesn't have the leverage any more. the prosecutors have already spent those resources and trial and now there's nothing to offer me. and the defendant or you will get that to rubble increase for obstruction of justice and to exercise

would be incredibly wrong to pressure people to do away with it. i talked to the criminal defense attorneys that said i do have regrets in my career. i should have encouraged my client to take a plea. instead he went to trial and got clobbered. trial is fine for me as a criminal defense attorney but i don't do the time. it is my client and if i had just encourage him to take the plea he would have

gotten a much better deal than he did. prosecutors for more minutes but i don't want to do that. to summarize what is close to my heart i a committed to the innocence project talking about a horrible wrongs that have been done to win individual it is horrible. and in no lesser cents to society the true founder is

that large is a double injustice. you may say judge, you are a stick in the mud. my wife and friends tell me that. [laughter] join the crowd. if there is anything the war for? the lot. in terms of reform. suggestions of by the cameras are a good idea on police. it is crucial that police and prosecutors that conduct a lineup should not know who the suspect is if they do they will allege and push the witness to that individual those are less subject to manipulation.

open files to move then the direction the etf of interrogation is not constitutional values with that trial judges and the things that may lead to useful reform i don't want something that's too much rigidity but for there to be experimentation this last one will not take me long but i think it is sad today

it has become a scapegoat for all the ways we have failed our disadvantaged communities. we have failed to provide opportunity, educational opportunities, a jobs and occupations and schools for a decent chance in life. but so much of what we find to criticize is simply a reflection of the larger difficulty but they are do without the criminal-justice system it would make a bad situation even worse we would not have safe streets more than we already do and

then destroy more lives after 9/11 david talked to the criminal justice for the military tribunals and as they come back here from abroad they tend to respect the criminal-justice system more than any other. i urge you not to move from one extreme to the other but have a sense of balance please give american institutions and this one in particular a fair trial. thank you. [applause] >> we'll have a very brief second round.

>> i never we should tear down the criminal-justice system but there are many areas it could happen but he says there is nothing to do about the fact but there are things we can do to keep them from being misshape and. if you have a lineup to save this very simple if they know who they are they will communicate to the victim. that kind of incremental a change can happen in these

areas. having to do with memory and perception and that is wonderful and we agree on this point and instrumental change. i am so glad to hear he is on board. i am very pleased he will bring us together. [laughter] talking about reforms that i do not propose and i do not think we should endorse or do this plea bargaining but everything else they agree with. but i will come out to

disappoint on absolute community needs to go. yes. and then to put on trial you then go to court to make it look like it is in the handwriting and then if it gets convicted you cannot be sued you are immune. absolutely. to do anything to do don't worry about it. the absolute immunity for

all of the defendants that they have misbehaved to have done far worse to be intimidated where they have concealed evidence but the total time the prosecutors spent behind bars is six days ken got nine days from 25 years he served five. one more prosecutor served one day per board doesn't happen they don't prosecute other prosecutors. it doesn't happen.

qualified? i don't know but i am surprised it is so easy for judgment. if you seek qualified immunity in to seek some judgment, and nobody else gets one but if you are subject like up policemen or another officer is maliki have to wait to the end of trial and if prosecutors thought they should held someone responsible the

inveigled they wouldn't worry about the prosecution's. thank you. >> what troubles me about his presentation is when the tech about forensic evidence and prosecutorial but to

exercise good judgment is to the ambiguous to go forward with the case or there are mitigating circumstances. we should not go forward with the case. there are many cases where prosecutors decline. now one makes prevented anecdote one of uses and pleased understand where there is a decline but they don't make the power plants for the highlight reels. they are rules.

are you ever going to hear read it? so those instances the where prosecutions to and both were and what.

but intuitively capable of when the fear that encourages someone but the prosecution has to have so certain of the f because a small one that would testify

but sometimes when he tried to crack open a larger organization that is violent what to say something of this sentence is too severe to talk about the sentencing guidelines.

moving from a discretionary system. but they were both friends and honest when and hard-working the judge's of course, getting him to the right judge first that is what needed to be done.

that is why the sentencing guidelines came into effect. we now have gone too far and now what we have that involves the united states that calls for guided discretion that eliminates those wild inconsistencies and lets them take the individual into account this is an example after swinging from one extreme to another guy blast the pendulum that arrives to strike the right balance and this is what happened here. maybe we can close on a

truly harmonious note. [laughter] >> but we still have committed to a minimum. >> i a bad up to getting away of those. [applause] we will open and take your questions now.

[inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> well. cleveland in the house. [applause] greetings, cleveland, ohio greetings, cleveland, ohio and everyone who has come from every part of this great state.

it is a tremendous sight to see so many of you here in the world team center at the cleveland state university. when i say feel, you say burn. field. >> burn. >> deal. >> burn. >> po. >> burn. >> field. >> burn we are at a critical moment in our nation's history. and the fact that senator bernie sanders is answering the call to stand up for working-class folks and middle-class folks in this country to say enough is enough is enough is enough to tell those folks who are

the working poor who work two and three jobs at a time and still can't make ends meet enough is enough is enough. for young people who are settled by debt in this country, senator sanders says enough is enough is enough. [applause] too many americans in this country are being deprived of healthcare. the senator says enough is enough is enough. [applause] and for the women in this country who are being deprived of the right to control their own bodies, senator sanders says enough is enough is enough. and ladies, can i just say this, we want our whole damn

dollar. enough is enough is enough. well, what about a justice system that is unjust to african-americans and are hispanic brothers and sisters? enough is enough is enough. he will not be surprised to no that senator sanders has the racial justice plan that affirms the value of people of color and wants to do away with the types of violence that are raged against them physical, physical, political, legal, and economic, enough is enough is enough. senator sanders is running this race. he and misses sanders are running this race. the senator has four children, seven grandchildren. he wants them to inherit a

world where they can live their greatest greatness. he is running this race for your children and your children and my children and my children. enough is enough is enough. wants everybody to be able to live their measure of the american dream. he is sick and tired of an economy that is rigged. enough is enough is enough. and i'm going to tell you something, folks. senator sanders can win this race. don't listen to the pundits. he can and he will win this race. he will run this race. when i think about senator sanders, think about public service for our time. he has been doing the work of the people's entire

political career. he has been steady and his commitment to folks who live in this country. he is going to get it done. senator sanders held on his principles. he is going to get it done. so if all of us put a little extra on our ordinary, extraordinary will be able to happen in this country. i know it, and i believe it which is why i am. [applause] now, we need you all to do some very important things. each and every person in this room, you are a part of making the political revolution real command we have to get out here and make sure we register people to vote as we are out they're grown to five voting in great numbers and make it known that sen. bernie senator bernie sanders will be the next president

of these united states of america. [applause] he is a man of principle, and i i applaud the senator for taking this home. so i want to leave you with three things. i believe that this creator of this great universe has given us to hands, one to reach forward and want to reach backward. where we can ask other folks to do more for us than we are willing to do for ourselves. and lastly in the words of my grandmother who was born in 1913, my grandmother could not read or write that she could count her money. she can't put money in the southern ladies bank and trust. when i asked my grandmother what is it take to be

successful in life she says, all you need either three owes, the wishbone, the jawbone, and the backbone. the wishbone will keep you hoping and praying because hope is the motivator but the dream is the driver. he knows that the hope and the dream of every day citizens are wrapped in his leadership to push this country forward. the jawbone will give you courage to speak truth, the hottest places about. reserve for those that time of great moral crisis choose neutrality. we cannot be neutral. we will not be neutral.

[applause] none of that means anything less you have a super franchise backbone. keeps a backbone. keeps a standing through all of our trials and tribulations and in this life we will go through some stuff that you cannot have a testimony without a test. we are being tested. so it's like when you have a good workout. the burning sensation you feel is proof that you are getting stronger. that is what senator sanders is doing for our party, and that is what he is doing for this nation.

he is making a stronger. if you want a democratic democratic party that is super fierce and culture committed black hispanic, native american, asian, we must working get the vote out. we must feel the burn, cleveland. feel the burn, ohio, feel the burn america. when i say feel you say burn. feel. >> burn. >> po. >> burn. >> when i say feel, you say burn. >> feel. >> burn. >> feel. >> burn. the senator bernie sanders.

[applause] [applause] >> thank you.

thank you. what a turn out. thank you, cleveland. well, let me begin by thanking senator nina turner more importantly sen. turner is an example of the kind of public service we need in america people who are prepared to stand up for working families and take on the powerful special interest.

let me also think the senator mike indo former senator prentice and former ohio democratic party chairman. let me also think the reverend for being with us this evening. let me begin my remarks in a somewhat somber way. in telling you what you already know, that as americans we are appalled, disgusted by the attack against the people of paris by the terrorist organization isys command i know that i speak for

everyone here and everyone in our country when we send our condolences to the families who lost loved ones in that barbaric attack, and our prayers go out for speedy recoveries for the many hundreds who were injured. now is the time for developing a serious and effective strategy to destroy isys. now is not the time to achieve political talk or trying to take political advantage of this difficult moment. now is the time as president obama is trying to unite the

world in an organized campaign against isi ss by bringing together all the countries who have common interest in defeating international terrorism, even countries that we have disagreements with. trying to bring together our european allies, france, germany, the united kingdom, and others along with russia and along with the muslim countries who are today face-to-face with isys. what we need is an international coalition, including iran and saudi arabia, jordan and kuwait,

turkey, putting together this coalition is not going to be easy given the many hostilities and disagreements the sum of these people face. that's what they are trying to do, the support their efforts. let me also say that now is not the time for demagoguery and fear mongering. [applause] if you think about it from moment you understand that's what terrorism is about, trying to instill terror and fear into the hearts of people.

and we will not let that happen. as americans we will not be terrorized. we will not live in fear. and i do have to tell you that i am disturbed by some of what i'm hearing from my republican colleagues command i will just say this , during these difficult times as americans we will not succumb to racism. [applause] we will not allow ourselves to the divided and succumb

to islamic phobia. [applause] and when hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything, have nothing left but the shirts on the back, we will not turn our backs on the refugees from syria. [applause] we will do what we do best command that is be american fighting racism, fighting xenophobia command fighting fear.

most importantly we will learn the lessons of history yesterday the chairman of the republican national committee stated, and i quote, never before have i seen an american president, meaning president obama, projects such weakness on the global stage. well, as many of you will remember back in 2,002 had a president, president bush. you remember president bush. [applause] we had a president, and he was very, very tough, but not very smart. [applause]

the end it cheney and a lot of them, they said we should invade iraq. we should do it virtually alone. the result was 6,700 brave men and women from our country dead, hundreds of thousands of our best young people coming home with injuries, physical and emotional. many, many hundreds of thousands of iraqis dead and wounded. huge instability in the region command we are paying

the price today for that instability and that chaos. i say to my republican colleagues, yes, he has got to be tough but not stupid. yes, we need to create a worldwide coalition that will defeat isi s, but no the united states of america must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the middle east. [applause]

let me say something else. including many republicans, some of the media who think that because of this horrific attack that the only thing that we should focus on his defeating isi s. we will lead the world in defeating isys, but at the same time we will rebuild the disappearing middle class of this country.

[applause] we are a great nation, and we can accomplish both goals. let me say a word about the campaign that we are waging. you know, about six months ago we began this campaign with no money, no organization, and very few people in ohio and arrest of the country knew who bernie sanders was. we have come a long way in six and a half months.

we have brought out all over 300,000 people to rally like this all over america. we have hundreds of thousands of volunteers and every state in this country. and when the pundits and the experts, you know, you can't run a serious political campaign without a super pack, without raising money from corporations, we are doing it without a super pack.

very proud to tell you that as of today we have approximately 800,000 americans who have made individual contributions to our campaign. that is more contributions than any campaign in the history of america at this.in campaign. our campaign is a people campaign. we don't want wall street money.

we don't want corporate money. we don't need billionaire money. we will when this on our own. [applause] and we will when this very simply as senator turner said a few moments ago enough is enough. country faces some very serious problems command the american people are catching on that establishment politics and establishment economics is not going to solve those problems. [applause]

at a time when wall street and corporate america and large campaign donors have so much power, people instinctively understand that no president, not bernie sanders or anyone else can alone solve enormous problems that we face. what this campaign is about is not just electing a president. it is creating a political revolution. [applause]

>> what that means is quite complicated. in the last election a year ago 53 percent of the american people didn't vote. 80 percent of young people didn't vote. vast majority of low income working people didn't vote. our job, and it is not an easy job, to reach out to tens of millions of americans who are working in many cases longer hours for lower wages, sometimes they can't afford there kids, afford to send there kids to college, our job is to reach out, to bring people together, black and white, hispanic, asian american, ganz straight.

men and women and people born in this country, people who emigrated to this country because that when we allowed to divide we lose. let me fit together there is nothing we cannot accomplish that is what this campaign is about. [applause] we are the vast majority of the people in this country, and when we come together we can defeat the people with all of the money and with all of the power.

now, i have been all over this country and given a lot of speeches, and one of the best complements that i have received came from a guy that i think was out of the west coast. you know, what i like about you is your treating us like we are intelligent people. in other words, what this campaign is about is not fancy gimmicks and me telling you all kind of jokes. can't do that without much of a sense of humor. i'm not going to your beautiful family and grandchildren. what i will tell you is simply lay on the table the most serious issues that they face our country.

democracy is not with the media thinks it is, not a baseball game, does not not matter what the polls are, how much money race. democracy is about a simply talking about the issues we face. respectfully arguing about those issues and coming together to resolve those problems. remember, every problem that we face was caused by human decisions. every problem that we face can be overcome by better decisions. [applause]

now, let me start off by talking about an issue that i have been talking about for a very long time command i am happy that now we are beginning to see more and more people discuss it, and that is the issue of the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that exists in america today. we have got to put that issue right on the table. plain and simple in the united states today we have more income and wealth inequality than almost any major country on earth, and it is worse today than at any time since 1928. okay. this is the extent of the problem.

one 10th of 1 percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. more wealth than the bottom 40 percent today in america in the last two years the 14 wealthiest people in this country have seen their wealth increase by a hundred and 56 billion dollars, more wealth and is owned entirety in ohio, and vermont, all

across this country command i see it as i travel, you got people who are not working one job for 40 hours , they are working two jobs, maybe three jobs. husbands are working, wires are working, kids are working all trying to cobble together the income that they need to sustain the family to buy healthcare, but guess the car, said the electric the. yet today and america 58 percent of all new income , 58 percent is going to the top 1 percent. [applause] so what this campaign is about simply stated millionaires and billionaires.

[applause] and this campaign is sending a simple and straightforward message to the billionaire class. and that is, in america that billionaire class will not have it all. [applause] they will not get huge tax breaks while children in america go hungry. they will not continue

sending our jobs to china when millions of people are in desperate need for good paying work here in america. [applause] they will not give, continue to give huge compensation packages to the ceos of large corporations when they cut the wages in the pensions and the healthcare. and let me just recognize some of our teamster friends who are here right here tonight. [applause] all over this country, all

over this country a promise that was made to tens of thousands of workers in damaging and pensions is now been undermined. he will pass our legislation to make sure that those pensions that you are promised will not be cut. when we talk about what's going on america take a hard look at what we see around us. our economy is better than

it was when george bush left office. and you know something our republican friends suffer from a very serious illness: the ship. they forget. if any of my republican friends are listening, try to overcome the ignition, let me remind you of where we were some years ago. my republican friends say we are only growing two, 250,000 jobs a month, not enough. they are right. then lose 800,000 jobs a

month. [applause] my republican colleagues against suffering from this very serious illness amnesia and that is serious problem. but they forgot that when bush left office we had a record-breaking $1.4 trillion deficit. we cut that by two thirds. by the way, when bush left office etiquette and international system was on the verge of collapse. just in passing we might

want to mention that. so, the truth is, we have made significant progress in the last seven years against unprecedented republican obstructionism, but there is another truth that we have got to layout, this is a harder truth. and that is for the last 40 years on the democratic president and republican president the great middle class of our country, once the end the of the entire world has, in fact, been disappearing. despite exploding technology and increased worker productivity, median family

income today is almost $4,000 less than it was in 1999 and in inflation-adjusted dollars. we have millions of people, men and workers comment and women who are earning less money than was the case 30 or 40 years ago. that is the reality. so the question that all of us have got to ask ourselves is, how does it happen that when workers are producing more because of exploding technology they are earning less and working longer hours. that is a question we are going to answer. every month us government

issues unemployment. what you don't see is that if you add to that 5 percent people who have given up looking for work were people who are working part-time when they want to work full-time, real unemployment is close to 10 percent. and here is something else that we virtually never discuss. that is the tragedy of youth unemployment in this country. i have some economists a couple of months ago to do a study for me.

this isthis is what they found, and listen to this because it is really pretty significant. what they found is that for high school graduates, graduates, not dropouts. between the ages of 17 and 20 real unemployment and underemployment is 33 percent. 51 percent. why is this so significant? what the kids want? graduate high school, they want to stand up on their own two feet, get out of the house and start earning some money. theymoney. they want to become independent, start a career, become adults. but when half of the african-american kids in this country and in cities

like cleveland are some may even be higher, when kids in this country are unable to stand on their own 2 feet and get out and get a decent job that things began to happen. and if anybody here thinks, if anybody here thinks there is not a direct correlation between outrageously high youth unemployment and the fact that we as a nation have more people in jail than any other country on earth you would be mistaken. what we tell you -- let me tell you what i think is the most common sense ideal that is out there, and that is instead of investing in jails and incarceration,

maybe we should invest in jobs and education. [applause] there is -- a set of spending $80 billion a year locking people up one we take a fraction of that and use it to create jobs for young people so they hunt hanging out on street corners. let me tell you something that you all no that calls

for a heck ofa heck of a lot less money to send somebody to the university of ohio and put them in jail. and here is a promise. the united states will not have more people in jail in any other country. [applause] brothers and sisters, it is not only the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality it is the fact

that in your state in my state and all over this country you have people working longer hours for lower wages and there working at wages that do not sustain themselves. in vermont and in ohio they're are people who are working 40 hours a week and then they have to go to the food shelf in order to get food to feed their families. the truth is, wages in america are too damn low. the minimum wage of seven and a quarter in our is a starvation wage.

and together we are going to raise to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next two years. [applause] when we talk about fair wages i hope every man here will stand with the women and demand pay equity. [applause]

there is no rational economic reason that women are making $0.79 on the dollar compared to men it is sexism, not acceptable. let me say a word about family values now, you have heard many republicans expressing deep, deep concern about families, especially very wealthy families might contribute to the campaign. but they are very passionate about family values. and everyone here knows what they need by family values.

what they mean is that no woman in america should have the right to control her own body. [applause] and what they mean by family values is that our gay brothers and sisters should not have the right to get married. i disagree. [applause] ..

being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. [applause] [applause] so, let me be very clear. it is not a family value to tell

a woman who has just given birth that she has to be separated a week or two after giving birth from her baby. that is not a family value. [applause] [applause] it is not a family value to tell a woman that she has to go back to work in order to earn the necessary income she needs to sustain that family, because there is no additional income coming in and here's the good news. the good news is that in the congress and the senate and in the house there is a very strong piece of legislation, the family and medical leave act. we have got 19 sponsors and the senate introduced, senator

gillibrand in the house we have over 100 introduced by congresswoman rosa pallone and what this legislation says and what i strongly believe is that in america we will guarantee every family three months of paid family and medical leave. [applause] [applause] we will guarantee those families two-thirds of the income they were earning and we do that all for a cause -- cost of about $1.38 a week. not a bad price. $1.38 a week. [applause] my hope is that every candidate

for president, especially those who talk about family values will, on board and support that legislation. [applause] and when we talk about the economy, and when pollsters go out and call you up and say what is on the minds of the american people, always, always, always the answer is jobs and the economy because people understand how volatile the economy is. they understand if you are 55 years of age you go to work tomorrow and your boss could say thanks for 30 years of work joe but we are replacing you with somebody half your age and half your income, and they understand that if you are a college graduate it is hard to get work

commensurate with your education. [applause] anthey understand if you are a high school kid, a graduate or high school graduate or dropout is fine to hard any work in any wage so that is why in my view given the unemployment, the underemployment, the outrageous level of youth unemployment, the federal government must undertake a massive federal jobs program to put our people back to work. [applause] [applause] we should not be firing teachers and childcare workers. we should be hiring people. [applause]

and when our infrastructure, our roads, bridges, wastewater plants our rail system, our airports in their levees and dams in many states are collapsing we can create millions of decent paying jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and that's what i intend to do. [applause] and by the way, and let me say this very clearly to folks in ohio. when we talk about jobs and creating decent paying jobs it is preventing the loss of good-paying jobs because of disastrous trade policy. [applause]

you are looking at a former congressman and a senator who will probably tell you he voted against nafta, against cafta, against trade relations. [applause] and i will help lead the effort to defeat this disastrous transpacific partnership. [applause] whether corporate america likes it or not, they are going to have to start investing in the united states of america creating jobs here, not just in china and in vietnam. [applause]

when we use words like greed and fraud and dishonesty and arrogance, these are just a few of the adjectives we can use to describe wall street. [applause] the simple truth of the matter is, everybody here knows the greed and the recklessness and the illegal behavior on wall street drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the great depression and what happened is that millions of people lost their jobs, and some of them have not found new jobs. many of them lost their homes and many people lost their life savings making retirement that much more difficult.

we need a banking system in this country that is part of the productive economy that provides affordable loans to small and medium-sized businesses so they can create jobs. [applause] we do not need a banking system in which the sixth largest financial institution in this country has assets equivalent to 58% of the gdp of america. six financial institutions which issue two-thirds of the credit cards, one third of the mortgages. when you have financial

institutions in wall street that have so much economic power, so much political power during the effort to deregulate wall street which i help lead the opposition to, they spent -- wall street spent $5 billion over a 10 year period on lobbying and campaign contributions. when you have an entity like wall street which has so much economic and political power, which is making so many campaign contributions to super pacs, democrats and republicans, the answer for what we have to do is obvious and that is reestablished last eagle. [applause]

if a financial institution, three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country today are bigger now than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail. my view is that if a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. [applause] now some of you may know that i recently introduced legislation to take marijuana out of the controlled substance list. [applause]

now i did that, i did that for a number of reasons but most importantly over the last many many years, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have been arrested for possessing marijuana and they have police records. and when you have got a police record, it makes life difficult. it makes it harder to go out and get a job. it makes it harder to find housing, to get decent credit and in some cases people ended up in jail. so i find it very interesting in terms of the broken criminal justice system, i find it interesting that hundreds of thousands of people have criminal records for possessing marijuana but not one ceo one wall street has a criminal record.

[applause] [applause] that is why we have got to bring major major reform to a broken criminal justice system. we should not be a country in which we have banks too big to fail and bankers too big to jail [applause] i am often asked bernie which particular issue is the most

important and i'd can never answer that because all of the issues are so terribly important that there's one issue, one issue which impacts all of the other issues and that is five years ago the supreme court in one of the worst decisions ever made in the history of the supreme court by a 5-4 vote on the citizens united case. [applause] by a 5-4 vote the supreme court said the wealthiest people in this country, they said you already own much of the economy and now we are going to allow you to purchase the united states government and that is what they are trying to do right now. now i am very proud to tell you i'm the former chairman of the

u.s. senate committee on veterans affairs and we worked very hard to protect the interests of our veterans. [applause] and as is a member of the veterans committee i have talked to some wonderful people who fought in world war ii, korea and vietnam all the way through iraq and afghanistan and these people are putting their lives on the line and of course many of our soldiers never came home. to defend american democracy. american democracy is not about billionaires buying elections. [applause] when you have a situation where the second wealthiest family in this country and the cup brothers and a few of their friends -- you have heard about

the koch brothers. okay. when a handful of families can spend some $900 billion in an election cycle, more money than either the democratic or republican party will spend, that is not democracy. that is all a and we are going to end that. [applause] so here is another promise that i make to you. no nominee of mine to the supreme court will get that position unless he or he is loud and clear in saying they will vote to overturn citizens united [applause]

and furthermore when we talk about democracy, together we are going to stand up and tell republican legislatures they will not get a way with suppressing the vote. [applause] they are not going to tell people of color, old people, young people that they cannot vote because they don't have the voter i.d.. [applause] they are not going to force people to wait in line for hours in order to exercise their democratic right to vote.

[applause] we are going through a constitutional amendment or some other way, we are going to reach the day when simply and straightforwardly anybody 18 years of age or older has the right to vote, and that discussion. [applause] [applause] and of republican governors don't have the guts to participate in free and fair elections, these cowards should get another job. [applause] our job is to create an america in which we have not one of the

lowest voter turnouts in the industrialized world, but one of the highest. [applause] our job is to make it easier for people to participate in the political process, not harder. [applause] and when we talk about where we are in the nation, all of you know that we are living in a very competitive global economy and in that context it makes zero sense to me that we have hundreds of thousands of right and qualified young people who want to go to college, who should be in college but can't go to college for one reason and

that is their families lack the income. [applause] that is not what america should be about and that is why i have introduced legislation and will make and as president, in which every public college and university in america is tuition free. [applause] [applause] and what that is about, and i

want you all to appreciate what that is about. it's telling every kid in cleveland and in burlington vermont that no matter what your income, the income of your family, if you study hard, if you do your schoolwork seriously, you will be able to get a college education. [applause] and we are also going to deal with the outrage of millions of people having high interest rates on their student debt. [applause] it makes no sense to me that people are paying six, eight,

10, 12% interest on student debt when you can refinance a home for three or 4%. [applause] and that's what we are going to do. we are going to allow people to get the lowest possible interest rate they can find. now, providing free tuition to public colleges and universities at a lower interest rate is an expensive proposition. we are going to pay for that by imposing a tax on wall street speculation. [applause]

when wall street is the result of their greed and recklessness clashed they came running to the congress and begging us to bail them out. now it is their turn to help bail out the middle class. [applause] and when we talk about our responsibilities as adults, as citizens and parents, one of those responsibilities is to make sure that we leave future generations it planet that is healthy and habitable. [applause]

now the debate is over. climate change is real. [applause] climate change is already causing devastating problems and we have a moral responsibility to work with countries around the world to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. [applause] and if we do not do that what the scientists tell us is that ibm did this century, this planet will be up to

five degrees warmer fahrenheit than it is today. more drought, more floods, we have a moral responsibility to make sure that does not happen. [applause] and when they talk about where we are as a nation we should also read nice that today the united states of america is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as they write. [applause] now i was on the committee that wrote the affordable care act.

[applause] but we can do better and we must do better. [applause] today in america, 29 million people still have zero health insurance and many more are underinsured but with large deductibles and co-payments. if every other major country on earth can guarantee health care to all of their people in a much more cost-effective way than we do health care, the united states of america can do that also. [applause]

let me jump to an issue which is also very much on our minds, and that is as a nation the understanding that we have got to put in and to institutional racism. [applause] [applause] and in that regard i'm not just talking about a very sick individual who months ago for example walked into a church bible study class in charleston, south carolina and killed nine

people because of the color of their skin and i'm not talking about -- it's always unbelievable to think about this that we have hundreds of organizations in this country whose sole function is to push forward hatred, hatred against african-americans, hatred against immigrants, hatred against catholics, that's what they do but i'm not just talking about that. what i'm talking about is the fact that in this country we have seen much too often too many african-americans unarmed, killed by the police when in custody. [applause]

you know the names and as well as i do whether it's sandra blander michael brown or walter scott or freddie gray or tamir rice or timothy russell. [applause] i do not want to read about and you did not want to read about children being shot because they have a toy gun. [applause] you and i do not want to continue to see over 100 ballots being -- 100 bullets being shot into a car. [applause]

now some of you know i am the former mayor of the largest city in the state of vermont, burlington, vermont. [applause] and in that capacity i had the privilege of working with our police department and let me tell you what i think most of you know. most police officers are honest and hard-working and do a very difficult job. [applause] the truth is, it is very hard to be a police officer today. many of them are unpaid -- underpaid and they have crazy schedules, but that may also be very clear and that is when any police officer, like any other public official breaks the law must be held accountable. [applause]

so my pledge to you tonight is that no president will work harder than i in ending institutional racism in this country and in reforming, reforming a very very broken criminal justice system. [applause] a lot to talk about and let me just mention a few of the things that happened. we have got to demilitarize our police departments. [applause] so that they do not look like, and if you watch television you

say -- see local police officers that look like they are invading the people they are supposed to be serving. a good police department, and their many of them, are part of the community, are trusted by the community, are not seen as a foreign invading force. [applause] when he police departments that reflects the diversity of the communities they serve. [applause] we need new rules for the allowable use of force, lethal force is a last resort, not the first. [applause]

we need to end the absurdity and i have introduced legislation to do this. corporations making profits by building and running prisons and detention centers. we need to invest in drug courts and medical and mental health intervention. [applause] substance addiction should be seen as an illness and treated as such. [applause]

we need to and minimum sentencing. and very importantly, we need to develop, which we do not have today, a path back from person to civil society. and when we talk about issues facing our country, i want everybody here not to forget that there are are 11 million people in this country today who are undocumented, who are living in fear and living in the shadows. those people must have the

rights of legal status. we must have comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] and we must move toward a path toward citizenship. [applause] what i hope that we can do as a nation and as a people is to think big, not small. many people don't know this but we today are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. most people don't know that

because almost all of the wealth is resting in the hands of a few our job is to say that as the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, with an enormously productive workforce, with some great universities and scientists and teachers, there is nothing if we put our minds to it that we cannot accomplish. don't get yourself involved in a worldview which says do we cut education by 2% or races by 1%? that is not the dynamics that we should be looking at. our job is the same that in the wealthiest country on earth why isn't a situation existing in which every parent goes off to work, his or her kids are in the best quality pre-k and childcare

in the world. [applause] y. can we do it? tell me why. we can do it. tell me why we cannot do with many other countries do to make sure that everybody in the country has the ability is able to get all of the education they need regardless of their income. why income. y. can we do it? [applause] please don't tell me that in this country we have to have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. don't tell me we have to have that. don't tell

has to be the only major country to provide health care or to provide paid family and health health care medical leave. [applause] don't tell me that the united states has to continue having more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth that have corporations that make billions when they are paying almost nothing in taxes. don't tell me that is the country we have to be. [applause] but do tell me that we can have the best health care system in the world for our people. do tell me that they we can lead the world in transforming how

energy systems and combating climate change. [applause] do tell me that health care workers in the united states will not be losing the pensions they were provided. [applause] and that our seniors and people with disabilities will in fact see an increase in their social security benefits. [applause] do tell me that together we will and racism and sexism and. [applause]

this is the country we can create when we come together, when we stand up and fight back and when we create a government that works for all of us and not just a handful of billionaires. [applause] please join the political revolution. thank you all very much. [applause] [applause] ♪

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