The Mass Incarceration Bill That Could Break Biden 2016

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/32108-the-mass-incarceration-bill-that-could-break-biden-2016

Twenty-one years after helping to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act as a Delaware senator, Joe Biden is still touting it.

“It put another 100,000 cops on the street, and it cost $1 billion,” he wrote in April, in a release through NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice. “But because crime was rampant, everybody signed on. And it worked.”

The landmark legislation, now known as the 1994 Biden Crime Bill, was expansive and wide-reaching, and it outlaws civilian ownership of assault rifles, possibly the most substantial gun ban in recent American history.

But advocates for prison reform, one of the key issues in the upcoming 2016 presidential race, say one part of the bill is indefensible and contributed to the mass incarceration problem that has made America the most imprisoned citizenry in the Western world.

“It’s a big bill, but it’s a pretty bad bill,” said Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project. “There’s no question it was designed to be a tough on crime bill. That’s how President Clinton talked about it at his State of the Union address. The only reason there’s some half-decent stuff in there is because the Congressional Black Caucus was very adamant about the direction of the bill.”

If Biden decides to run in 2016, he could face questions about the so-called 1994 Biden Crime Bill, which created financial incentives for states to jail more people and keep them in prison for considerably longer sentences.

[Live and Learn]

1. And Hillary stumped for it, Bernie voted for it and O'Malley vigourously enforced it in Maryland.

How would that alone make Biden any less of a candidate than the other three?

Don't get me wrong, it was a terrible bill and one created in deference to the peoples call to stop crime which was escalating at the time.

Like most bills written and passed for reactionary purposes it had big unintended consequences that now have the USA with the biggest incarceration rate in the world.

All 4 of the above have admitted the bill was a mistake so I don't see Biden taking a big hit on this over the other candidates.

[Live and Learn]

2. I don't see this as a deal breaker at all for Biden but his ties to

credit card companies with outrageous (some might even righteously accuse them of them usury) is another matter.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. It's kind of unfair. That bill was designed to address the problems of his day.

It's kind of unfair. That bill was designed to address the problems of his day. The fact the bill is creating problems in our day shouldn't be laid at his door step...

That being said, his handling of the Clarence Thomas hearings still bothers me. Anita Hill was left out to dry.