Hillary Rodham Clinton impassioned speech on Wednesday touched on two central issues in national discourse and the 2016 presidential election -- racial politics and criminal justice reform.

Speaking at Columbia University in Harlem, New York, the former Secretary of State lamented the recent deaths of young black men at the hands of the police officers and called for an overhaul of the "out-of-balance" criminal justice system.

"Not only as a mother and grandmother, but as a citizen, a human being, my heart breaks for these young men and their families. We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America," she said, reports The New York Times.

She also talked about the outbursts of violence and rioting in Baltimore this week in light of the death of Freddie Gray, along with the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City.

"From Ferguson to Staten Island to Baltimore, the patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable," she said.

However, the former first lady said that something needs to be done to end the violence. She added that everyone is better off when there's a respect of laws, as well as when the laws respect everyone.

The Democratic front-runner also addressed the broken relations between police and communities of color.

"There is something wrong when the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve breaks down as far as it has in many of our communities," she said, reports Reuters. "There is something wrong when a third of all black men face the prospect of prison during their lifetimes," she added.

The presidential hopeful went on to say that all police departments should use body cameras in order to "improve transparency and accountability."

Furthermore, the former U.S. senator challenged Congress to help "end the era of mass incarceration."