During a women's conference in Boston, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States criminal justice system is "out of balance" when she spoke for the first time about both the Eric Garner chokehold case and the Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown, according to the Daily Mail.
Clinton said she supports federal reviews of police-involved deaths of black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, the Associated Press reported.
"I'm very pleased the Department of Justice will be investigating what happened in Ferguson, what happened in Staten Island," Clinton said during the conference.
"Those families, those communities, and the country, deserve a full and fair accounting as well as whatever substantive reforms are necessary to ensure equality, justice and respect for every citizen," Clinton added.
During the Massachusetts Conference for Women, Clinton expressed support for reviews by the Justice Department and President Barack Obama's recent announcement of a task force on policing.
Clinton also said the two cases show the need for federal funds to be used for best practices, "rather than weapons of war," according to the AP.
Clinton inclined to the fact America might have to "grapple with some hard truths about race and justice in America."
"We have allowed our criminal justice system to get out of balance," Clinton said. "And I personally hope that these tragedies give us the opportunity to come together as a nation to find our balance again."
Both grand jury decisions not to charge a white police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York and a separate decision not to charge a white officer who shot and killed 18-year-old unarmed black Michael Brown in Missouri have caused protests to go on around the country.
But on the same day, an NYPD officer was indicted. A former South Carolina police chief was found guilty of murder in the shooting of an unarmed black male.
President Obama is reportedly going to sign an executive order to create more transparency about federal programs providing military-style equipment to local police, after recent criticism about heavy machinery being used to clear out protests and demonstrations, according to the AP.
