Criminal Justice

Mr. Kaine, a Roman Catholic, staunchly opposes the death penalty based on his religious beliefs, but he oversaw 11 executions during his tenure as governor of Virginia, the state with the second-highest number of executions since the 1970s. He said his moral obligation to uphold the law as governor rivaled his moral obligation to oppose the death penalty. In the Senate, Mr. Kaine has advocated initiatives to overhaul the criminal justice system and supported a measure that would give judges more flexibility on sentencing.


Where Mrs. Clinton stands:Mrs. Clinton wants to invest in retraining police officers and broadening access to technology, such as body cameras, to improve accountability. She also backs legislation to end racial profiling by law enforcement and reduce prison sentences for nonviolent drug criminals. Mrs. Clinton supports the death penalty “for very limited purposes” as punishment for heinous crimes such as mass killings and domestic terrorism. She thinks that death penalty cases should be overseen by the federal justice system. She has also said, however, that she would not be disappointed if the Supreme Court or states began to eliminate the death penalty.

Guns

Mr. Kaine, a gun owner himself, is a staunch supporter of gun control measures and has backed broad background checks and restrictions on the sale of combat-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. The Virginia Tech shooting inspired Mr. Kaine, then the governor, to close some loopholes in Virginia laws that allowed some people to buy guns despite failing background checks. In the Senate, he supported the Manchin-Toomey bill, which would have expanded background checks to cover gun shows and weapons sold over the internet, and also supported a measure that would ban gun sales to terrorism suspects on the government’s “no-fly” list.


Where Mrs. Clinton stands: She also wants to expand background checks and supports legislation to keep guns away from suspects of domestic abuse, violent criminals and those with severe mental illness.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/tim-kaine-issues.html