The truth is locked away behind bars

Bill Clinton cannot decide how he feels, or at least what he should say, about his legacy on crime, and in particular his signing of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act more than 20 years ago.

Colloquially known as the Crime Bill, the 1994 law lengthened prison sentences, expanded the use of the death penalty and gave states more money to hire police and build more prisons. It also included an assault weapons ban and funding for inner-city after-school programs.

Last summer in Philadelphia, the former president told an NAACP audience that by signing the bill he had probably made the problem of mass incarceration "worse."

But he struck a different tone last week. Back in Philly stumping for his wife, Clinton launched a vigorous defense of the crime bill, sparring for 10 minutes with Black Lives Matter protestors. Far from destroying black communities, as the protestors argued, Clinton insisted that the law bolstered them by taking child-murderers and crack dealers off their streets.

By the next day, Clinton had changed his tune once again, claiming that he "almost want[ed] to apologize" for his comments of the previous day.