TEXT ON SCREEN: HILLARY CLINTON IS BEING HAUNTED BY SOMETHING SHE SAID IN THE PAST.

ARCHIVAL:
HILLARY CLINTON: They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called superpredators. No conscience, no empathy…

TEXT ON SCREEN: THAT’S RIGHT, SHE USED THE WORD SUPERPREDATOR.

AND IT PROVOKED AN OUTCRY THIS WEEK.

ARCHIVAL:
SPEAKER: I’m not a superpredator, Hillary Clinton.
HILLARY CLINTON: O.K., fine, we’ll talk later.

TEXT ON SCREEN: SO WHERE DID THE WORD SUPERPREDATOR COME FROM?

IT WAS FIRST USED BY THIS MAN IN 1995.

JOHN DilULIO: A superpredator is a young,  juvenile criminal who is so impulsive, so remorseless, that he can kill, rape, maim without giving it a second thought.TEXT ON

SCREEN: PROFESSOR JOHN DilULIO PREDICTED THAT CRIME WAS ABOUT TO SKYROCKET, DUE TO A COMING WAVE OF VIOLENT KIDS.

AND LIKE A MATCH TO A FLAME, THE WORD SUPERPREDATOR CAUGHT ON.

ARCHIVAL:
NEWS ANCHOR: Superpredator–

ARCHIVAL:
INTERVIEWEE: Predator–

ARCHIVAL:
REPORTER: Predators–

ARCHIVAL:
REPORTER: Superpredators–

BARRY KRISBERG (CRIMINOLOGIST, UC BERKLEY): This country went into a moral panic over superpredators. Race was the central issue.

TEXT ON SCREEN: LAWMAKERS ENACTED TOUGH LEGISLATION AGAINST JUVENILE OFFENDERS, INCARCERATING MANY AFRICAN AMERICANS.

BUT THERE WAS ONE PROBLEM WITH DilULIO’S PREDICTION ABOUT JUVENILE CRIME RATES…

IT WAS WRONG.

JOHN DilULIO: The predictions were off by a factor of four. It had doubled and it was supposed to double again, instead it was halved. Right, and so, that’s about as far off as one could possibly get. The superpredator idea was wrong. Once it was out there, though, it was out there. There was no reeling it in.

BARRY KRISBERG: It was a myth. The fear over the superpredator led to a tremendous number of laws and policies that we’re just never recovering from.

TEXT ON SCREEN: DilULIO HAS SINCE WORKED TO BAN MANDATORY LIFE SENTENCES FOR JUVENILES.

HILLARY CLINTON NOW SAYS, “I SHOULDN’T HAVE USED THOSE WORDS, AND I WOULDN’T USE THEM TODAY.”

(END)