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Clinton Says Death Penalty Racially Inequitable, Applied Too Frequently

Paige Sutherland/NHPR
Hillary Clinton headlined "Politics and Eggs" on Wednesday in Manchester -- drawing in the largest crowd the event has ever had.

During a campaign stop at St. Anselm College in Manchester Wednesday, Hillary Clinton weighed in on the death penalty – something she hadn’t yet addressed during the 2016 campaign.

When asked by a member of the audience at the “Politics and Eggs” event, Clinton said in many states the death penalty is applied too frequently and in a racially inequitable way but said she does not support banning it.

“I do not favor abolishing it, however, because I think there are certain egregious cases that still deserve the consideration of the death penalty, but I’d like to see those be limited and rare,” Clinton said.

Clinton is the only candidate in the Democratic field who supports the death penalty. After Clinton's remarks, Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley, who abolished the death penalty as governor of Maryland, issued a statement saying, "The death penalty is racially-biased, ineffective deterrent to crime, and we must abolish it."

Clinton also told the crowd that if elected president, the first bill she would send to Congress would be focused on economic equity. 

“So it will include, whether it’s raising the minimum wage, tougher enforcement on equal pay for equal work or cracking down on abuses of the tax system that favors the wealthy,” she said.

Clinton will also campaign in Bartlett, Berlin and Littleton this week.

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