Democratic Party (United States)

=== Legal issues ===

==== Gun control ====
[[File:20210420 Gun control survey by political party - Pew Research.svg|thumb|upright=1.5| U.S. opinion on gun control issues is deeply divided along political lines, as shown in this 2021 survey.<ref name="Pew_20210420">{{cite web |title=Amid a Series of Mass Shootings in the U.S., Gun Policy Remains Deeply Divisive |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/04/20/amid-a-series-of-mass-shootings-in-the-u-s-gun-policy-remains-deeply-divisive/ |website=PewResearch.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220530202009/https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/04/20/amid-a-series-of-mass-shootings-in-the-u-s-gun-policy-remains-deeply-divisive/ |archive-date=May 30, 2022 |date=April 20, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
With a stated goal of reducing crime and homicide, the Democratic Party has introduced various [[Gun politics in the United States|gun control]] measures, most notably the [[Gun Control Act of 1968]], the [[Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act|Brady Bill]] of 1993 and Crime Control Act of 1994. In its national platform for 2008, the only statement explicitly favoring gun control was a plan calling for renewal of the 1994 [[Federal Assault Weapons Ban|Assault Weapons Ban]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2008/08/2008-democratic-platform-080808.pdf|title=The Draft 2008 Democratic National Platform: Renewing America's Promise|access-date=February 4, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512191810/http://www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2008/08/2008-democratic-platform-080808.pdf|archive-date=May 12, 2012}}</ref> In 2022, Democratic president [[Joe Biden]] signed the [[Bipartisan Safer Communities Act]], which among other things expanded background checks and provided incentives for states to pass red flag laws.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clyde |first1=Don |last2=Miranda |first2=Shauneen |title=Biden signs gun safety bill into law |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/25/1107626030/biden-signs-gun-safety-law |website=NPR |date=June 25, 2022 |access-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-date=September 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924024307/https://www.npr.org/2022/06/25/1107626030/biden-signs-gun-safety-law |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a 2023 Pew Research Center poll, 20% of Democrats owned firearms, compared to 32% of the general public and 45% of Republicans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/|access-date=September 19, 2023|date=September 13, 2023|title=Key facts about Americans and guns|website=Pew Research Center|first1=Katherine|last1=Schaeffer}}</ref>

==== Death penalty ====
The Democratic Party's 2020 platform states its opposition to the death penalty.<ref name="Protecting Communities and Building" /> Although most Democrats in Congress have never seriously moved to overturn the rarely used [[Capital punishment by the United States federal government|federal death penalty]], both [[Russ Feingold]] and [[Dennis Kucinich]] have introduced such bills with little success. Democrats have led efforts to overturn state death penalty laws, particularly in [[New Jersey#Capital punishment|New Jersey]] and in [[New Mexico]]. They have also sought to prevent the reinstatement of the death penalty in those states which prohibit it, including [[Capital punishment in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]], [[Capital punishment in New York (state)|New York]], and [[Capital punishment in Delaware|Delaware]]. During the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]], Democrats led the expansion of the federal death penalty. These efforts resulted in the passage of the [[Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996]], signed into law by [[Bill Clinton|President Clinton]], which heavily limited appeals in death penalty cases.
In 1972, the Democratic Party platform called for the abolition of capital punishment.<ref>{{cite web |title=1972 Democratic Party Platform |via=American Presidency Project|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1972-democratic-party-platform|date=July 11, 1972|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408133915/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1972-democratic-party-platform|archive-date=April 8, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1992, 1993 and 1995, Democratic Texas Congressman [[Henry B. Gonzalez|Henry González]] unsuccessfully introduced the [[s:Death Penalty Abolition Amendment|Death Penalty Abolition Amendment]] which prohibited the use of [[capital punishment in the United States]]. Democratic Missouri Congressman [[Bill Clay|William Lacy Clay Sr.]] cosponsored the amendment in 1993.

During his [[Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama|Illinois Senate career]], former President [[Barack Obama]] successfully introduced legislation intended to reduce the likelihood of [[Miscarriage of justice|wrongful convictions]] in capital cases, requiring videotaping of confessions. When [[Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign|campaigning for the presidency]], Obama stated that he supports the limited use of the death penalty, including for people who have been convicted of raping a minor under the age of 12, having opposed the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]'s ruling in ''[[Kennedy v. Louisiana]]'' that the death penalty was unconstitutional in which the victim of a crime was not killed.<ref>[http://www.newser.com/story/30953/obama-backs-death-penalty-for-child-rapists.html "Obama Backs Death Penalty for Child Rapists"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527012457/http://www.newser.com/story/30953/obama-backs-death-penalty-for-child-rapists.html |date=May 27, 2009}}. [[Newser]], June 26, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2009.</ref> Obama has stated that he thinks the "death penalty does little to deter crime" and that it is used too frequently and too inconsistently.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Candidates on the Death Penalty|url=http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty|access-date=July 26, 2009|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704020036/http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty |archive-date=July 4, 2008}}</ref>

In June 2016, the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee unanimously adopted an amendment to abolish the death penalty.<ref>{{cite web|title=Democratic Platform Drafting Meeting Concludes|url=https://demconvention.com/news/democratic-platform-drafting-meeting-concludes/|date=June 25, 2016|access-date=June 29, 2016|publisher=DNCC|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160802094026/https://demconvention.com/news/democratic-platform-drafting-meeting-concludes/|archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref>

==== Torture ====
Many Democrats are opposed to the [[Torture and the United States|use of torture]] against individuals apprehended and held prisoner by the [[United States armed forces|United States military]], and hold that categorizing such prisoners as [[unlawful combatant]]s does not release the United States from its obligations under the [[Geneva Conventions]]. Democrats contend that torture is inhumane, damages the United States' moral standing in the world, and produces questionable results. Democrats are largely against [[waterboarding]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |title=Americans divided in views of use of torture in U.S. anti-terror efforts |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/26/americans-divided-in-views-of-use-of-torture-in-u-s-anti-terror-efforts/ |access-date=March 21, 2020 |date=January 26, 2017 |archive-date=March 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321214249/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/26/americans-divided-in-views-of-use-of-torture-in-u-s-anti-terror-efforts/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Torture became a divisive issue in the party after Barack Obama was elected president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/obama/articles/2009/05/22/obama-and-democrats-torture-problem|title=Obama and Democrats' Torture Problem|author=Kenneth T. Walsh|work=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=August 26, 2017|archive-date=July 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706211938/https://www.usnews.com/news/obama/articles/2009/05/22/obama-and-democrats-torture-problem|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Patriot Act ====
Many Democrats are opposed to the [[Patriot Act]], but when the law was passed most Democrats were supportive of it and all but two Democrats in the Senate voted for the original Patriot Act legislation in 2001. The lone nay vote was from [[Russ Feingold]] of [[Wisconsin]] as [[Mary Landrieu]] of [[Louisiana]] did not vote.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313 |title=Senate roll call on passage of the PATRIOT Act |publisher=Senate.gov |date=April 25, 2017 |access-date=January 13, 2018 |archive-date=December 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205074052/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the House, the Democrats voted for the Act by 145 yea and 62 nay. Democrats were split on the renewal in 2006. In the Senate, Democrats voted 34 for the 2006 renewal and nine against. In the House, 66 Democrats voted for the renewal and 124 against.<ref>{{cite web |title=House approves Patriot Act renewal |url=https://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/07/patriot.act/ |website=CNN.com |access-date=March 21, 2020 |archive-date=March 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321220837/https://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/07/patriot.act/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Privacy ====
The Democratic Party believes that individuals should have a [[privacy law|right to privacy]]. For example, many Democrats have opposed the [[NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–07)|NSA warrantless surveillance of American citizens]].

Some Democratic officeholders have championed [[consumer protection]] laws that limit the sharing of consumer data between corporations. Democrats have opposed [[Sodomy laws in the United States|sodomy laws]] since the 1972 platform which stated that "Americans should be free to make their own choice of life-styles and private habits without being subject to discrimination or prosecution",<ref>{{cite web |title=1972 Democratic Party Platform |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1972-democratic-party-platform |website=The American Presidency Project |access-date=December 17, 2021 |archive-date=April 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408133915/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1972-democratic-party-platform |url-status=live }}</ref> and believe that government should not regulate consensual noncommercial sexual conduct among adults as a matter of personal privacy.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ashtari|first=Shadee|title=Here's The Medieval-Sounding Sodomy Law That Helped Ken Cuccinelli Lose In Virginia|url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/ken-cuccinelli-sodomy_n_4226708.html|work=Huffington Post|date=November 6, 2013|access-date=December 6, 2019|archive-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324035215/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/ken-cuccinelli-sodomy_n_4226708.html|url-status=live}}</ref>