Political Party Platforms and the Death Penalty

Reasserts 2016 plat­for­m’s call for the abo­li­tion of the death penalty.

Protecting Communities and Building Trust by Reforming Our Criminal Justice System

Our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is fail­ing to keep com­mu­ni­ties safe — and fail­ing to deliv­er jus­tice. America is the land of the free, and yet more of our peo­ple are behind bars, per capi­ta, than any­where else in the world. …

Democrats believe we need to over­haul the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem from top to bot­tom. …

Sentencing deci­sions should be based on the facts of each case, includ­ing the sever­i­ty of the offense and indi­vid­u­als’ cir­cum­stances. Democrats sup­port allow­ing judges to deter­mine appro­pri­ate sen­tences, which is why we will fight to repeal fed­er­al manda­to­ry min­i­mums, incen­tivize states to do the same, and make all sen­tenc­ing reduc­tions retroac­tive so judges can recon­sid­er past cas­es where their hands were tied. We believe it is long past time to end the fed­er­al sen­tenc­ing dis­par­i­ty between crack and pow­dered cocaine, which has con­tributed to the dis­pro­por­tion­ate impris­on­ment of peo­ple of col­or. And Democrats con­tin­ue to sup­port abol­ish­ing the death penalty.

The Republican National Committee’s Executive Committee vot­ed on June 10, 2020, to adopt the same plat­form the par­ty used in 2016.

For rel­e­vant excerpts of the 2016 Republican Party Platform, see below.
 

Calls for the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty, which it describes as ​“a cru­el and unusu­al form of pun­ish­ment” that ​“has no place” in the nation.

Criminal Justice

We will abol­ish the death penal­ty, which has proven to be a cru­el and unusu­al form of pun­ish­ment. It has no place in the United States of America. The appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty is arbi­trary and unjust. The cost to tax­pay­ers far exceeds those of life impris­on­ment. It does not deter crime. And, exon­er­a­tions show a dan­ger­ous lack of reli­a­bil­i­ty for what is an irreversible punishment.

Decries the ​“over-fed­er­al­iza­tion of crim­i­nal jus­tice,” says the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty is ​“firm­ly set­tled,” and con­demns the U.S. Supreme Court for what it calls the ​“ero­sion of the right of the peo­ple to enact cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment”:
 

Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: Criminal Justice and Prison Reform

… [T]he next pres­i­dent must not sow seeds of divi­sion and dis­trust between the police and the peo­ple they have sworn to serve and pro­tect. The Republican Party, a par­ty of law and order, must make clear in words and action that every human life matters. …

The over-fed­er­al­iza­tion of crim­i­nal jus­tice is one of many ways in which the gov­ern­ment in Washington has intrud­ed beyond its prop­er juris­dic­tion. The essen­tial role of fed­er­al law enforce­ment per­son­nel in pro­tect­ing fed­er­al prop­er­ty and com­bat­ing inter­state crime should not be com­pro­mised by diver­sion to mat­ters prop­er­ly han­dled by state and local authorities. …

The con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty is firm­ly set­tled by its explic­it men­tion in the Fifth Amendment. With the mur­der rate soar­ing in our great cities, we con­demn the Supreme Court’s ero­sion of the right of the peo­ple to enact cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in their states.

Says use of the death penal­ty ​“must not be arbitrary”:

Public Safety, Justice, and Crime Prevention.

In the last four years, rates of seri­ous crimes, like mur­der, rape, and rob­bery, have reached 50-year lows, but there is more work to do. … We under­stand the dis­pro­por­tion­ate effects of crime, vio­lence, and incar­cer­a­tion on com­mu­ni­ties of col­or and are com­mit­ted to work­ing with those com­mu­ni­ties to find solutions.

We will con­tin­ue to fight inequal­i­ties in our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. We believe that the death penal­ty must not be arbi­trary. DNA test­ing should be used in all appro­pri­ate cir­cum­stances, defen­dants should have effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel, and the admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice should be fair and impartial.

Supports the death penalty:

Justice for All: Safe Neighborhoods and Prison Reform

Courts should have the option of impos­ing the death penal­ty in cap­i­tal murder cases.

Says use of the death penal­ty ​“must not be arbi­trary”:
 

Criminal Justice

As Democrats, we are com­mit­ted to being smart on crime. … We will con­tin­ue to fight inequal­i­ties in our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. We believe that the death penal­ty must not be arbi­trary. DNA test­ing should be used in all appro­pri­ate cir­cum­stances, defen­dants should have effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel. In all death row cas­es, and thor­ough post­con­vic­tion reviews should be available.

Supports the death penal­ty ​“in cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es and oth­er instances of heinous crime” and oppos­es judi­cial review of death sen­tences where the defendant’s guilt of the under­ly­ing crime is not at issue:
 

Appointing Constitutionalist Judges for the Nation’s Courts

… [We] deplore the Court’s arbi­trary exten­sion of Americans’ habeas cor­pus rights to ene­my com­bat­ants held abroad. We object to the Court’s unwar­rant­ed inter­fer­ence in the admin­is­tra­tion of the death penal­ty in this coun­try for the ben­e­fit of sav­age crim­i­nals whose guilt is not at issue. …
 

Locking Up Criminals

Criminals behind bars can­not harm the gen­er­al pub­lic. To that end: …

Courts must have the option of impos­ing the death penal­ty in cap­i­tal mur­der cas­es and oth­er instances of heinous crime, while fed­er­al review of those sen­tences should be stream­lined to focus on claims of inno­cence and to pre­vent delay­ing tac­tics by defense attorneys.

No men­tion of the death penal­ty:
 

Crime and violence.

While ter­ror­ism pos­es an espe­cial­ly men­ac­ing threat to our nation, a strong America must remain vig­i­lant against the scourge of home­grown crime as well. … To keep our streets safe for our fam­i­lies, we sup­port tough pun­ish­ment of vio­lent crime and smart efforts to rein­te­grate for­mer pris­on­ers into our com­mu­ni­ties as productive citizens.

Supports the death penal­ty:
 

Protecting Our Rights, Fighting Criminals, and Supporting Victims

… We sup­port courts hav­ing the option to impose the death penal­ty in cap­i­tal murder cases.

Touted ​“tougher pun­ish­ments” and expan­sion of the death penal­ty:
 

Fighting Crime

Democrats believe government’s most basic duty is to estab­lish law, order, and free­dom and keep cit­i­zens safe from crime. …

Bill Clinton and Al Gore … put in place … tougher pun­ish­ments — includ­ing the death penal­ty — for those that dare to ter­ror­ize the inno­cent, and smarter pre­ven­tion to stop crime before it even starts. …. They fund­ed new prison cells, and expand­ed the death penal­ty for cop killers and terrorists.

With Al Gore as President, America won’t go back. We will move for­ward. … We believe that in death penal­ty cas­es, DNA test­ing should be used in all appro­pri­ate cir­cum­stances, and defen­dants should have effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel. In all death row cas­es, we encour­age thor­ough post-conviction reviews.

Praises ​“the Republican Congress” for enact­ing ​“an effec­tive deter­rent death penal­ty” and sup­ports ​“cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for drug traf­fick­ers who take innocent life”:

Justice And Safety

Most Americans over the age of fifty remem­ber a time when streets and school­yards were safe, doors unlocked, win­dows unbarred. The elder­ly did not live in fear and the young did not die in gun­fire. That world is gone, swept away in the social upheaval pro­voked by the wel­fare, drug, and crime poli­cies of the 1960s and later. …

… [W]e rec­og­nize the cru­cial lead­er­ship role the pres­i­dent and the Congress should play in restor­ing pub­lic safe­ty. The con­gres­sion­al half of that team, in coop­er­a­tion with gov­er­nors and local offi­cials who are the front line against crime, has been hard at work. Within prop­er fed­er­al juris­dic­tion, the Republican Congress has enact­ed leg­is­la­tion for an effec­tive deter­rent death penal­ty, resti­tu­tion to vic­tims, removal of crim­i­nal aliens, and vig­i­lance against terrorism. …

Children At Risk

… in a Republican admin­is­tra­tion the Department of Justice will require all fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors to aggres­sive­ly pur­sue drug deal­ers, from the king­pins to the lack­eys. We renew our sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for drug traf­fick­ers who take innocent life.

Touted ​“law and order,” enact­ing an expand­ed fed­er­al death penal­ty, and lim­it­ing death penal­ty appeals:
 

Fighting crime.

Today’s Democratic Party believes the first respon­si­bil­i­ty of gov­ern­ment is law and order. …

Tough pun­ish­ment. We believe that peo­ple who break the law should be pun­ished, and peo­ple who com­mit vio­lent crimes should be pun­ished severe­ly. President Clinton made three-strikes-you’re-out the law of the land, to ensure that the most dan­ger­ous crim­i­nals go to jail for life, with no chance of parole. We estab­lished the death penal­ty for near­ly 60 vio­lent crimes, includ­ing mur­der of a law enforce­ment offi­cer, and we signed a law to limit appeals. …

Battling ille­gal drugs. …. The Crime Bill estab­lished the death penal­ty for drug kingpins.

Expresses ​“strong sup­port of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment,” includ­ing for non-homi­ci­dal rape and for ​“drug king­pins”; describes pro-death penal­ty judi­cial appoint­ments as mak­ing the courts ​“an instru­ment of jus­tice”:
 

Getting Tough on Crime

During Bill Clinton’s tenure, America has become a more fear­ful place, espe­cial­ly for the elder­ly and for women and chil­dren. Violent crime has turned our homes into pris­ons, our streets and school­yards into battlegrounds. …

… Bill Clinton hyp­o­crit­i­cal­ly endorsed our Victim’s Rights Amendment while nam­ing judges who opposed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, turned felons loose, and even excused mur­der as a form of social protest. Bob Dole, the next Republican pres­i­dent will end that non­sense and make our courts once again an instru­ment of justice.

… We believe it is time to revis­it the Supreme Court’s arbi­trary deci­sion of 1977 that pro­tects even the most vicious rapists from the death penal­ty. … We con­tin­ue our strong sup­port of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for those who com­mit heinous fed­er­al crimes; includ­ing the king­pins of the narcotics trade.

No direct men­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. However, the plat­form said the fol­low­ing on ​“com­bat­ting crime and drugs”:
 

Combatting Crime and Drugs

Crime is a relent­less dan­ger to our com­mu­ni­ties. Over the last decade, crime has swept through our coun­try at an alarm­ing rate. During the 1980s, more than 200,000 Americans were mur­dered, four times the num­ber who died in Vietnam. Violent crimes rose by more than 16 per­cent since 1988 and near­ly dou­bled since 1975. In our coun­try today, a mur­der is com­mit­ted every 25 min­utes, a rape every six min­utes, a bur­glary every 10 sec­onds. The per­va­sive fear of crime dis­fig­ures our pub­lic life and dimin­ish­es our freedom. …

To empow­er America’s com­mu­ni­ties, Democrats pledge to restore gov­ern­ment as the uphold­er of basic law and order for crime-ravaged communities. …

Criticizes Democrats for refus­ing to enact a fed­er­al death penal­ty and for reject­ing efforts to lim­it habeas cor­pus appeals, and sup­ports the death penal­ty ​“for major drug traf­fick­ers”:
 

Safe Homes and Streets. One of the first duties of gov­ern­ment is to pro­tect the pub­lic secu­ri­ty — to main­tain law and order so that cit­i­zens are free to pur­sue the fruits of life and liberty.

Violent crime is the gravest domes­tic threat to our way of life. It has turned our com­mu­ni­ties into bat­tle­grounds, play­grounds into grave yards. …

Congressional Democrats … reject our reform of habeas cor­pus law to pre­vent the appel­late process from becom­ing a lawyers’ game to thwart jus­tice through end­less appeals and pro­ce­dur­al delays. They refuse to enact effec­tive pro­ce­dures to rein­state the death penal­ty for the most heinous crimes. They reject tougher, manda­to­ry sen­tences for career criminals….

We oppose legal­iz­ing or decrim­i­nal­iz­ing drugs. … There is no excuse for the wan­ton destruc­tion of human life. We there­fore sup­port the stiffest penal­ties, includ­ing the death penal­ty, for major drug traffickers.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or crim­i­nal pun­ish­ments. Sole ref­er­ences to crime were sup­port pro­grams for chil­dren to pre­vent crime and a com­mit­ment to help crime vic­tims.
 

WE BELIEVE … that the strength of our fam­i­lies is enhanced by pro­grams to pre­vent abuse and mal­nu­tri­tion among chil­dren, crime, dropouts and preg­nan­cy among teenagers and vio­lence in the family….

WE BELIEVE that the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment should pro­vide increased assis­tance to local crim­i­nal jus­tice agen­cies, enforce a ban on ​“cop killer” bul­lets that have no pur­pose oth­er than the killing and maim­ing of law enforce­ment offi­cers, rein­force our com­mit­ment to help crime vic­tims, and assume a lead­er­ship role in secur­ing the safe­ty of our neigh­bor­hoods and homes.

Pledges to ​“reestab­lish the fed­er­al death penal­ty” and lim­it fed­er­al habeas cor­pus review of crim­i­nal cas­es:
 

Crime

Republicans want a free and open soci­ety for every American. That means more than eco­nom­ic advance­ment alone. It requires the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty of per­sons and their prop­er­ty. It demands an end to crime. …

We will forge ahead with the Republican anti-crime agenda: …

We will reestab­lish the fed­er­al death penalty…

We will reform cum­ber­some habeas cor­pus pro­ce­dures, used to delay cas­es and pre­vent pun­ish­ment of the guilty.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or crim­i­nal pun­ish­ments. The plat­form rejects ​“per­mis­sive lib­er­al­ism” and ​“sta­t­ic con­ser­vatism” as approach­es to reduc­ing crime:
 

Crime

No prob­lem has wor­ried Americans more per­sis­tent­ly over the past 20 years than the prob­lem of crime. Crime and the fear of crime affect us all, but the impact is great­est on poor Americans who live in our cities. Neither a per­mis­sive lib­er­al­ism nor a sta­t­ic con­ser­vatism is the answer to reducing crime. …

Although the pri­ma­ry respon­si­bil­i­ty for law enforce­ment rests at the local lev­el. Democrats believe the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment can play an impor­tant role by encour­ag­ing local inno­va­tion and the imple­men­ta­tion of new crime con­trol meth­ods as their effec­tive­ness is shown.

Supports the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment ​“where appro­pri­ate” and ​“car­ried out humane­ly.” Touts pas­sage by ​“the Republican Senate” of leg­is­la­tion to restore fed­er­al death penal­ty:
 

Crime

One of the major respon­si­bil­i­ties of gov­ern­ment is to ensure the safe­ty of its cit­i­zens. Their secu­ri­ty is vital to their health and to the well-being of their neigh­bor­hoods and com­mu­ni­ties. The Reagan Administration is com­mit­ted to mak­ing America safe for fam­i­lies and individuals.

In addi­tion, the Republican Senate has over­whelm­ing­ly passed Administration-backed leg­is­la­tion which would: Restore a con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly valid fed­er­al death penalty ….

The best way to deter crime is to increase the prob­a­bil­i­ty of detec­tion and to make pun­ish­ment cer­tain and swift. As a mat­ter of basic phi­los­o­phy, we advo­cate pre­ven­tive rather than mere­ly cor­rec­tive mea­sures. Republicans advo­cate sen­tenc­ing reform and secure, ade­quate prison con­struc­tion. We con­cur with the American people’s approval of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment where appro­pri­ate and will ensure that it is car­ried out humanely.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or crim­i­nal sen­tenc­ing. Emphasizes ​“reha­bil­i­ta­tion of offend­ers” and fed­er­al assis­tance to crime vic­tims:
 

Law Enforcement

The Democratic Party sup­ports the enact­ment of a revised fed­er­al crim­i­nal code which sim­pli­fies the cur­rent­ly com­plex fed­er­al crim­i­nal law in order to make our fed­er­al crim­i­nal jus­tice efforts more effec­tive, and repeals anti­quat­ed laws while ful­ly pro­tect­ing all civil liberties. …

We must con­tin­ue and strength­en efforts at prison reform, to upgrade the safe­ty of our penal insti­tu­tions, to enhance reha­bil­i­ta­tion of offend­ers, and to low­er the recidivism level.

We sup­port fed­er­al assis­tance to the vic­tims of crime, includ­ing spe­cial pro­grams to assist the elder­ly and to aid the vic­tims of rape and domes­tic vio­lence. Further efforts should be made to demon­strate the fea­si­bil­i­ty of resti­tu­tion by the per­pe­tra­tors of crime.

Supports cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment:
 

Crime

Safety and secu­ri­ty are vital to the health and well-being of peo­ple in their neigh­bor­hoods and communities. …

Just as vital to efforts to stem crime is the fair but firm and speedy appli­ca­tion of crim­i­nal penal­ties. The exis­tence and appli­ca­tion of strong penal­ties are effec­tive dis­in­cen­tives to crim­i­nal actions. Yet these dis­in­cen­tives will only be as strong as our court system’s will­ing­ness to use them.

We believe that the death penal­ty serves as an effec­tive deter­rent to cap­i­tal crime and should be applied by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment and by states which approve it as an appro­pri­ate penal­ty for cer­tain major crimes.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty. Decries ​“the rag­ing and unchecked growth of crime,” calls for ​“swift and sure” pun­ish­ment and ​“crim­i­nal sen­tences that pro­vide pun­ish­ment that actu­al­ly pun­ish­es and reha­bil­i­ta­tion that actu­al­ly reha­bil­i­tates”:
 

Law Enforcement and Law Observance

[T]he rag­ing and unchecked growth of crime seri­ous­ly impairs the con­fi­dence of many of our cit­i­zens in their abil­i­ty to walk on safe streets, to live secure­ly in peace­ful and hap­py homes, and to work safe­ly in their places of busi­ness. Fear mounts along with the crime rate. … Recognizing that law enforce­ment is essen­tial­ly a local respon­si­bil­i­ty, we declare that con­trol of crime is an urgent nation­al pri­or­i­ty and pledge the efforts of the Democratic Party to insure that the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment act effec­tive­ly to reverse these trends and to be an effec­tive part­ner to reverse cities and states in a well-coor­di­nat­ed war on crime.

We must restore con­fi­dence in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem by insur­ing that detec­tion, con­vic­tion and pun­ish­ment of law­break­ers is swift and sure; that the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is just and effi­cient; that jobs, decent hous­ing and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties pro­vide a real alter­na­tive to crime to those who suf­fer enforced pover­ty and injus­tice We pledge equal­ly vig­or­ous pros­e­cu­tion and pun­ish­ment for cor­po­rate crime, con­sumer fraud and decep­tion; pro­grams to com­bat child abuse and crimes against the elder­ly; crim­i­nal laws that reflect nation­al needs; appli­ca­tion of the law with a bal­anced and fair hand; a judi­cia­ry that ren­ders equal jus­tice for all; crim­i­nal sen­tences that pro­vide pun­ish­ment that actu­al­ly pun­ish­es and reha­bil­i­ta­tion that actu­al­ly reha­bil­i­tates; and a cor­rec­tion­al sys­tem empha­siz­ing effec­tive job train­ing, edu­ca­tion­al and post-release pro­grams. Only such mea­sures will restore the faith of the cit­i­zens in our crim­i­nal justice system.

Toward these ends, we sup­port a major reform of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, but we oppose any leg­isla­tive effort to intro­duce repres­sive and anti-civ­il lib­er­tar­i­an mea­sures in the guise of reform of the criminal code.

Leaves it to each state to decide ​“whether it wish­es to impose the death penal­ty” and calls crime fight­ing ​“pri­mar­i­ly a local respon­si­bil­i­ty:
 

A Safe and Just Society

Every American has a right to be pro­tect­ed from crim­i­nals. Violence has no place in our land. A soci­ety that excus­es crime will even­tu­al­ly fall vic­tim to it. The American peo­ple have been sub­ject­ed to an intol­er­a­ble wave of violent crime. …

Fighting crime is — and should be — pri­mar­i­ly a local responsibility. …

Each state should have the pow­er to decide whether it wish­es to impose the death penal­ty for certain crimes.

Calls for abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty:
 

VI. Crime, Law and Justice

The Quality of Justice

Justice is not mere­ly effec­tive law enforce­ment —though that is an essen­tial part of it. Justice, rather, express­es the moral char­ac­ter of a nation and its com­mit­ment to the rule of law, to equal­i­ty of all peo­ple before the law.

The Democratic Party believes that noth­ing must abridge the faith of the American cit­i­zens in their sys­tem of law and justice.

We believe that the qual­i­ty of jus­tice will be enhanced by: …

Abolishing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, rec­og­nized as an inef­fec­tive deter­rent to crime, unequal­ly applied and cru­el and excessive punishment.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or to sever­i­ty of pun­ish­ments, but the plat­form has an exten­sive sec­tion on law enforce­ment tout­ing the ​“unre­lent­ing war on crime”:
 

Law Enforcement

We have sol­id evi­dence that our unre­lent­ing war on crime is being won. The American peo­ple know that once again the thrust of jus­tice in our soci­ety will be to pro­tect the law-abid­ing cit­i­zen­ry against the crim­i­nal, rather than absolve the crim­i­nal of the con­se­quences of his own desperate acts….

When our Administration took office, a mood of law­less­ness was spread­ing rapid­ly, under­min­ing the legal and moral foun­da­tions of our soci­ety. We moved at once to stop vio­lence in America. We have … [e]ven more fun­da­men­tal­ly, … estab­lished a renewed cli­mate of respect for law and law enforcement.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty. Calls for ​“equal jus­tice under law”:
 

Justice and Law

We are firm in our com­mit­ment that equal jus­tice under law shall be denied to no one. The duty of gov­ern­ment at every lev­el is the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty of its peo­ple. Yet the fact and fear of crime are upper­most in the minds of Americans today. The entire nation is unit­ed in its con­cern over crime, in all forms and wher­ev­er it occurs. America must move aggres­sive­ly to reduce crime and its causes. …

In fight­ing crime we must not fos­ter injus­tice. Lawlessness can­not be end­ed by cur­tail­ing the hard-won lib­er­ties of all Americans. The right of pri­va­cy must be safe­guard­ed. Court pro­ce­dures must be expe­dit­ed. Justice delayed is justice denied.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or to sever­i­ty of pun­ish­ment, but for the first time the plat­form has a sec­tion devot­ed to crime. It calls ​“respect for the law … the cor­ner­stone of a free and well-ordered soci­ety” and pledges ​“an all-out, fed­er­al-state-local cru­sade against crime”:
 

Crime

Lawlessness is crum­bling the foun­da­tions of American society.

Republicans believe that respect for the law is the cor­ner­stone of a free and well-ordered soci­ety. We pledge vig­or­ous and even-hand­ed admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice and enforce­ment of the law. We must re-estab­lish the prin­ci­ple that men are account­able for what they do, that crim­i­nals are respon­si­ble for their crimes ….

For the future, we pledge an all-out, fed­er­al-state-local cru­sade against crime ….

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty. Calls for a ​“democ­ra­cy of oppor­tu­ni­ty” and civ­il rights advances designed ​“not to pun­ish, but to pro­mote fur­ther our com­mit­ment to free­dom, the pur­suit of jus­tice, and a deep­er respect for human dig­ni­ty”:
 

Democracy of Opportunity

The vari­ety of our peo­ple is the source of our strength and ought not to be a cause of dis­uni­ty or dis­cord. The rights of all our cit­i­zens must be pro­tect­ed and all the laws of our land obeyed if America is to be safe for democracy.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 deserves and requires full obser­vance by every American and fair, effec­tive enforce­ment if there is any default.

Resting upon a nation­al con­sen­sus expressed by the over­whelm­ing sup­port of both par­ties, this new law impairs the rights of no American; it affirms the rights of all Americans. Its pur­pose is not to divide, but to end divi­sion; not to cur­tail the oppor­tu­ni­ties of any, but to increase oppor­tu­ni­ties for all; not to pun­ish, but to pro­mote fur­ther our com­mit­ment to free­dom, the pur­suit of jus­tice, and a deep­er respect for human dignity. …

The Criminal Justice Act of 1964, now before the President for sig­na­ture, will for the first time in his­to­ry ensure that poor defen­dants in crim­i­nal cas­es will have com­pe­tent legal coun­sel in defend­ing them­selves in Federal courts.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or to crime, with occa­sion­al ref­er­ences to ​“inter­ra­cial ten­sions” and ​“law­less­ness”:
 

Discord and Discontent

This Administration has exploit­ed inter­ra­cial ten­sions by extrav­a­gant cam­paign promis­es, with­out ful­fill­ment, play­ing on the just aspi­ra­tions of the minor­i­ty groups, encour­ag­ing dis­or­der­ly and law­less ele­ments, and inef­fec­tu­al­ly admin­is­ter­ing the laws. …

Faith in the Individual

We Republicans … pledge: …

—to open avenues of peace­ful progress in solv­ing racial con­tro­ver­sies while dis­cour­ag­ing law­less­ness and violence.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty and the lim­it­ed ref­er­ence to crime focus­es on fed­er­al efforts relat­ing to orga­nized crime:
 

Law Enforcement

In recent years, we have been faced with a shock­ing increase in crimes of all kinds. Organized crim­i­nals have even infil­trat­ed into legit­i­mate busi­ness enter­pris­es and labor unions.

The Republican Administration, par­tic­u­lar­ly the Attorney General’s office, has failed lam­en­ta­bly to deal with this prob­lem despite the grow­ing pow­er of the under­world. The new Democratic Administration will take vig­or­ous corrective action.

No ref­er­ence to the death penal­ty or to crime, and a sin­gle para­graph on com­bat­ting juve­nile delin­quen­cy:
 

Juvenile Delinquency

The Federal Government can and should help state and local com­mu­ni­ties com­bat juve­nile delin­quen­cy by inau­gu­rat­ing a grant pro­gram for research, demon­stra­tion, and train­ing projects and by plac­ing greater empha­sis on strength­en­ing fam­i­ly life in all wel­fare pro­grams for which it shares responsibility.