The Issues: Where do Trump and Clinton stand on criminal justice and ‘law and order’?

From the ambush and killing of five police officers in Dallas in July to the tragic police shooting of Philando Castile and other minority men, the issue of policing has taken the spotlight during this presidential race — with Americans very divided on the issue.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have very different approaches to the criminal justice system. But 20 years ago, the now bitter rivals were actually much closer together on crime and policing.

Trump has billed himself as the “law and order candidate” and says police are “the most mistreated” people in the country. He’s portrayed the country as crime-blighted and out of control, focusing on data that suggests some large cities have shown a rise in homicides, while ignoring the fact that crime overall has dropped dramatically since the 1980s and ’90s.

The real estate mogul forged much of his criminal justice worldview in New York in the 1980s and ’90s, and praises his top adviser, Rudy Giuliani, for lowering crime rates in the city while mayor by instating “stop and frisk” and a more aggressive policing style in high-crime neighborhoods. During the campaign, Trump has continued his vendetta against the “Central Park Five” — men who were wrongly convicted as teenagers for the 1989 rape and beating of a jogger. Trump argued in full-page advertisements they should be put to death at the time and has refused to accept their exoneration.

Clinton, on the other hand, supported tough-on-crime measures in the ’90s, drawing heat during the Democratic primary for using the term “super-predators” back in 1996 when she was speaking in support of a tough anti-crime bill her husband signed into law. At the time, almost all politicians ran on a tough-on-crime platform, including Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton tackled the issue head on, making her first policy speech as a candidate about her support for reforming the criminal justice system to be fairer and to end “mass incarceration.” Clinton said her “heart breaks” for men like Walter Scott and Eric Garner who have died at the hands of police officers — killings that sparked the “Black Lives Matter” movement — while also speaking of the need for police to receive more support and training.

Clinton has campaigned with the “Mothers of the Movement” — women who have lost their children in officer-involved killings and have vouched for the sincerity of Clinton’s evolution on the issue. Trump, meanwhile, appears with “Angel Moms” — the mothers of children who died in accidents or crimes involving undocumented immigrants. Trump’s vision for restoring law and order includes deporting immigrants.