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ByEricTucker The Associated Press WASHINGTON Onthecam- paign trail, among candi- dates of both parties, the idea of locking up drug criminals for life is a lot less popular than it was a gen- eration ago. The 2016 presidential race has accelerated an evo- lution away from the tradi- tional tough-on-crime can- didate. A Republican Party that's long taken a law-and- order stance finds itself des- perate to improve its stand- ing among minority voters. Democratic candidates are also being drawn into na- tional conversations on po- licing, drug crimes and prison costs. With criminal justice is- sues intruding into election season, the "Just Say No" message of the Reagan ad- ministration and the "three strikes" sentencing law de- veloped a decade later un- der President Bill Clin- ton have given way to con- cerns over bloated prison costs, the racial inequi- ties of harsh drug punish- ments and how police inter- act with their communities. But even among those in both parties who sup- port changing the criminal justice system, there's no consensus on how to do it and candidates are scram- bling to differentiate them- selves on what law and or- der means. "You don't have every- one saying they're tough on crime," said Inimai Chettiar of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which advocates reducing prison populations. "Instead, you have people offering differ- ent policy solutions." The Paris attacks have at least temporarily thrust na- tional security to the fore- front of the presidential race, but criminal justice issues have been periodi- cally popping up, particu- larly among Democrats, in a year of tumult in U.S. cit- ies. In the Republican field, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has been out front in seek- ing to "break the cycle of in- carceration for non-violent ex-offenders." The push to rethink sen- tences for drug offenders is coinciding with the Black Lives Matter movement and its debate about police treatment of minorities, a heroin crisis that's brought renewed attention to addic- tion and a homicide spike in some big cities. Some- times that mix of issues de- fies consistency. Republican Chris Chris- tie, the New Jersey governor and a former federal pros- ecutor, has preached treat- ment rather than prison for drug addicts and spo- ken sympathetically of a law school friend who died from a painkiller habit. But when it comes to discussing policing, he accuses Presi- dent Barack Obama's ad- ministration of "allowing lawlessness to reign" and tells law enforcement "I'll have your back," suggest- ing that Obama doesn't. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Republican, criti- cizes harsh mandatory min- imum sentences for drug of- fenders. But last month he voted against legislation that would make nonvio- lent drug offenders eligi- ble for shorter prison sen- tences, saying he was con- cerned it could also benefit violent felons. And while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has endorsed a review of the criminal code and decried "selective enforcement" of the law, he wrote in an essay for a Brennan Center book this year that drug laws had helped restore "law and or- der to America's cities" and that shorter drug-crime sentences should be ap- proached with caution. Support for more lenient sentencing from Republican members of Congress and wealthy conservative back- ers such as the Koch broth- ers has made it easier for budget-minded presiden- tial candidates to support sentencing policy changes. It's not clear, though, how much benefit candidates gain from pressing the is- sue with average voters, said Fergus Cullen, former chair- man of the New Hampshire Republican Party. Some leading candidates such as Donald Trump hardly mention the issue on the campaign trail, and Ben Carson, the sole Repub- lican participant in a recent candidate forum on crimi- nal justice, said he was still waiting to see evidence of racial bias by police. Democratic candidates are more unified in their embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement and of overall change to the crim- inal justice system. After Baltimore's riots in April, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner whose husband promoted a more conventional tough- on-crime stance, called the criminal justice system "out of balance" and urged an end to "mass incarcer- ation." POLITICS Criminal justice issues showing up in 2016 race for White House PA TR I CK S EM AN SK Y — T HE A SS OC IA TE D P RE SS F IL E Po li ce s ta nd i n f or ma ti on a s a c ur fe w a ppr oa ch es i n B al ti mo r e, a d ay a e r u nr es t t ha t oc cu rr ed f ol lo wi ng F re dd ie Gr ay 's f un er al. By Robert Burns, Lynne O'Donnell and Ken Dilanian The Associated Press WASHINGTON American soldiers and airmen who killed and wounded doz- ens of civilians in a strike on an Afghanistan hos- pital violated U.S. rules of engagement and have been suspended as they await disciplinary action that could include crimi- nal charges, military offi- cials said Wednesday. Briefing reporters on the results of two investi- gations, Gen. John Camp- bell, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, described an egregious series of hu- man and technical failures that led a U.S. warplane to destroy a medical char- ity's hospital in northern Afghanistan last month. Campbellandotherofficials would not say how many people had been removed from their jobs or whether anyone higher in the chain of command would be sub- ject to discipline. "This was a tragic but avoidable accident caused primarily by human error," Campbell said. He left open the possibility that disci- plinary action, which has yet to be determined, could include courts-martial. Christopher Stokes, gen- eral director of Doctors Without Borders, whose hospital was attacked, said the U.S. military's state- ments Wednesday left his organization with more questions than answers. "The frightening cata- log of errors outlined to- day illustrates gross neg- ligence on the part of U.S. forces and violations of the rules of war.," Stokes said. Officials said the crew of an AC-130 gunship had been dispatched to hit a Taliban command center in a different building, 450 yards away. However, ham- pered by problems with their targeting sensors, the crewreliedonaphysicalde- scription that led them to begin firing at a hospital run by the Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity, even though they saw no hostile activity there. Many chances to avert the error were missed, of- ficials said. Asked whether the scale of the air attack — even if it had hit the correct tar- get — was justified under the U.S. rules of engage- ment and international laws governing armed con- flict, the actions taken by the U.S. aircrew were "not appropriate" to the threat they faced, said Campbell's spokesman, Brig. Gen. Wil- son Shoffner. He declined to be more specific. Campbell and Shoffner said that neither the Spe- cial Forces commander who called in the strike at the request of Afghan forces, nor the aircrew, was aware that a hospital was being hit until it was too late. The generals did not address claims by Afghan officials that the hospital had been overrun by the Taliban, but a copy of one of the investigations says there is no evidence to sup- port that. It also says there was no hostile activity ob- served at the hospital. The plane fired 211 shells at the compound over 29 minutes before command- ersrealizedthemistakeand ordered a halt, according to thereport.DoctorsWithout Borderscontactedcoalition military personnel during the attack to say its facility was "being 'bombed' from theair,"andthewordfinally was relayed to the AC-130 crew, the report said. INVESTIGATION Some suspended for deadly Afghan hospital attack Alloffersforalimitedtime.Notallbuyerswillqualifyforindividualprograms.SeeRedBluffChrysler/Jeep/Dodge/Ramforcompletedetailsandvehiclequalificationsforallcurrentlyrunningprograms.0%and1.9%APRfinancingarenot applicable on these new selected models. All rebates in lieu of special APRs offered by Chrysler. All prices plus government fees and taxes, any finance charge, any dealer document, preparation charge, and any emission charge. Subject to prior sales & credit approval. Some vehicle images in this ad are for illustration purposes only and may vary from actual vehicle. Ad expires 11/21/15. 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