Criminal justice reform splits 2020 Democrats

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Democrats who are mulling 2020 presidential bids are split over whether to support criminal justice reform and give President Trump one of his biggest bipartisan accomplishments.

The decision to support or oppose the bill is a significant policy decision for 2020 hopefuls. The issue has split groups on the left and is sure to come up in presidential primary debates next year.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), the chief Democratic negotiator, has agreed to move the legislation to the right in recent days to mollify Republican critics, but that has divided fellow Democrats who are eyeing the White House.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a former prosecutor, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass..), a prominent voice on the left, are undecided about whether to support the legislation.

Harris said she is balancing the “ideal” against not letting “perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Warren said she has heard mixed feedback from advocates of sentencing reform who are divided over whether the legislation goes far enough.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/419760-criminal-justice-reform-splits-2020-democrats?userid=229233

[pecosbob]

1. The Hill is mostly Republican talking points it seems

and they're doing all they can to show Dems how divided we are. This bill splits both sides...it's a really mixed bag that mostly does nothing. Even Eric Holder dissed this bill. I've read it and it mostly seems to cosmetic changes and corporate interest giveaways. There's a part in there allowing UNICOR (the privately held federal prison industry that utilizes coerced slave-labor) to sell to entities other than the US government, expanding their market.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5682

And there is this:

(Sec. 106) It prohibits discrimination against a program, treatment, regimen, group, company, charity, person, or entity based on the fact that it may be or is faith-based.

I smell some kind of faith-based toddler prisons just around the corner...

[Garrett78]

3. And it only deals with the federal system.

It's a weak bill and many states are doing more to bring about criminal justice reform.

That said, the bill probably wouldn't do more harm than good, the faith-based nonsense aside. Anyway, it may not even come up for a vote.

[former9thward]

4. A bill in Congress can ONLY deal with the federal system.

Congress has no power to change how state justice systems operate. Any change there would have to come from individual states.

[Squinch]

2. Jesus, Mary and Frank. The hill can't write a headline without

claiming Democrats are divided. Its ridiculous.