Bill Clinton says laws he signed while president put too many people behind bars

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Then-President Clinton signed tough crime bill in September 1994
Instituted 'three strikes' rule for repeat offenders and created new crimes
Led to a pike in prison populations - which now thinks was a mistake
At speech to the NAACP in Philadelphia said he wanted to 'admit' his role
In '94, Clinton said the bill would 'restore the line between right and wrong'
Obama and Hillary Clinton have spoken out against 'mass incarceration'

By Kieran Corcoran For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 17:49 EST, 15 July 2015 | Updated: 17:30 EST, 16 July 2015

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Bill Clinton has admitted that signing a bill designed to crack down on crime and reform prisons 'made the problem worse'.

The former president said Wednesday that the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act he signed in 1994 put too many people in prison for too long.

Telling a convention audience in Philadelphia he wanted to 'admit' his role in imprisoning so many Americans, Clinton said: 'I signed a bill that made the problem worse - and I want to admit it.'

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Mea culpa: Clinton, pictured above in Philadelphia on Wednesday, confessed that he contributed to mass incarceration in the U.S. by signing a tough crime bill in 1994

Back then: Clinton, then in his second year of office, is pictured above signing the bill, which he described as 'this great law, the toughest and smartest crime bill in our history'

Clinton: A lot of minor criminals were locked up for too long

'In that bill, there were longer sentences. And most of these people are in prison under state law, but the federal law set a trend. And that was overdone. We were wrong about that.'

At the time, Clinton held an open-air event attended by hundreds of congressmen and officials to usher in the new bill, which he promised would 'restore the line between right and wrong'.

At the signing ceremony on the National Mall, Clinton called the bill 'this great law, the toughest and smartest crime bill in our history', and emphasized that 'people who commit crimes should be caught, convicted and punished.'

However, at his latest speech Clinton also defended the bill as the response to 'a roaring decade of rising crime'.

He said: 'We had gang warfare on the streets. We had little children being shot dead on the streets who were just innocent bystanders standing in the wrong place.'

Looking again: Barack Obama, pictured above visiting a prison in Oklahoma, has said he wants to reduce prison population

Obama behind bars: We need to reassess drug sentencing

'The good news is we had the biggest drop in crime in history. The bad news is we had a lot people who were locked up, who were minor actors, for way too long'.

Clinton's mea culpa, to the NAACP convention, echoes the views of President Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, both of whom have recently spoken about a problem of 'mass incarceration'.

The day after Clinton spoke, Obama made the first-ever presidential visit to a federal prison, and pledged to do more to help nonviolent inmates, many of whom are behind bars for drug use.

He recently commuted the sentences of 46 convicts who were jailed for drug use.

Hillary's latest stance is also a marked change of heart. When her husband was preparing to sign the bill, she was specifically in favor of the harsher new prison terms.

Changed her tune: Hillary Clinton, above on the campaign trail, took a tough line on repeat offender before - but now says that large jail populations are crippling America

According to CNN, at the time of the signing Hillary Clinton said: 'We will finally be able to say, loudly and clearly, that for repeat, violent, criminal offenders: three strikes and you're out. We are tired of putting you back in through the revolving door.'

Her tone on the issue is now very different.

At a speech in April in the wake of riots in Baltimore, she said that the high prison population was perpetuating poverty in the U.S.

She said: 'One in every 28 children in our country now has a parent in prison. They're not there to look after their children or bring home a paycheck, and the consequences are profound.

'Without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people would be living in poverty.

'We need a true national debate about how to reduce our prison population while keeping our communities safe.'