Baltimore shows justice system 'out of balance': Hillary Clinton

New York: Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the U.S. criminal justice system has gotten "out of balance" and must be restored through steps such as the use of body cameras by every police department in the country.

"It's time to change our approach," Clinton said in her first major policy address since launching her presidential campaign earlier this month. "It's time to end the era of mass incarceration."

Clinton spoke in the days after violence and protests have swept through the streets of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal-cord injury while in police custody. Clinton condemned those instigating further violence, saying it disrespected the Gray family and only compounded the tragedy.

"The violence has to stop," she said in a speech at Columbia University.

Clinton is the leading contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. On the Republican side, the favorites are considered to be former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

In her speech, Clinton spoke of protests over policing in Ferguson, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; and in New York, and repudiated policies dating to her husband Bill's presidency that lengthened prison terms while putting more officers on the streets.

"We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population," she said. "We don't want to create another incarceration generation."

She voiced support for alternative punishments for lower-level offenders.

She said criminal justice reform had found some bipartisan consensus in Congress, noting the work of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican seeking his party's presidential nomination, along with that of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat.

"It is rare to see Democrats and Republicans agree on anything today but we're beginning to agree on this," she said. "We need to restore balance to our criminal justice system. Of course it is not enough just to agree ... we actually have to work together to get the job done. We have to deliver real reforms that can be felt on our streets."

In December, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $263 million for police body cameras and additional law enforcement training. The request came after Obama held a series of meetings with law enforcement officials, Cabinet members and civil rights leaders following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson.

The president's proposal would have allocated $75 million over three years to help states purchase body cameras. The money would have paid for about 50,000 devices, though Congress never acted on the president's request.

In her remarks at Columbia, Clinton also cited the unfairness of black men being more likely to be stopped and searched by police officers, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms.

Clinton spoke at the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum, named after the former New York mayor.