Has the Democratic Party Accepted Mass Incarceration as a Norm?

[DemocraticSocialist8]

This is a topic for grown-ups who can have their beliefs challenged and defend them. Not for people who only want confirmation bias. This is just a reflection of my opinion.

I'm a black voter. Early 30's. I came of age during Black Lives Matter rallies and the realization that America has a prison-complex that is the largest in the world full of disproportionately non-violent POC offenders. Non-violent offenders who are only there because of the disastrous 'tough-on-crime' era that apparently lots of people are still clinging to despite the overwhelming evidence of the millions of lives that era has destroyed and how riddled with racism the rhetoric was back then.

As you can tell from my name, I'm not a Biden supporter...for many reasons really. But his role in the creation of mass incarceration is a MAJOR no deal for me. Hillary Clinton was attacked for echoing tough-on-crime rhetoric during that era, but she doesn't nearly have the blood on her hands that Biden has. For me, I don't care that he was Obama's VP. That doesn't erase the system he helped create and the lives that are STILL being destroyed by it. To make matters worse, Biden is still defending the 94 crime bill in recent years! There's circumstantial evidence to support the idea that he hasn't really learned anything at all since then (or doesn't have the leadership to admit he made terrible decisions backs then).

I'm at a loss then for why Biden has so much support from within the Party? I'd really like to know what is going through voters heads and why so many have decided to give him a pass on this? It's led me to the idea that perhaps many within the Democratic Party have just accepted mass incarceration and their role in it because unfortunately...this isn't something we can just pass off on the GOP. Democrats were knee-deep in the tough-on-crime era.

I hear people saying they think Biden is the only one who can defeat Trump? Based on what? What data is supporting this idea? Are we still in 2019 trying to run elections to win over a demographic that has become increasingly extreme who show no signs of crossing over to vote for Democrats? How is appealing to Trump voters considered the winning strategy instead of expanding the electorate? I guess if you want to believe in the idea that "well they're not all bad"...then that makes some sense.

I'm just trying to have a discussion here about this instead of on Twitter where I already know a lot of anti-Biden voters are. DU seems more in line with where the majority in the party are and I don't see this discussion happening enough.

[watoos]

1. I saw a statistic a couple of years ago,

where the U.S. comprises 5% of the world's population but imprisons 25% of the world's prisoners.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

3. Yes...it's a monstrosity that has also led to an increase of police state violence against POC

Apparently, though a lot of voters don't see this as a major issue and that makes no sense to me. Unless of course folks have accepted it as a norm - hence the title of this thread.

[Skya Rhen]

34. Wow - so the Crime Bill led to police violence against POC? Are you unaware

of the rampant violence / lynching inflicted upon black people, by racist law enforcers, for centuries with absolutely zero accountability? Really?

From one POC to another, you should know better. if you don't know, try reaching out to members of your community and they will enlighten you.

Don't believe the hype...

[Kahuna7]

2. You do know that Bernie voted for the bill, right? And once

bragged about his tough on crime creds.

Link to tweet

[DemocraticSocialist8]

4. Yes, so Bernie isn't without blame but he says the only reason he did was for the VAW Act

and said if the Violence Against Women Act wasn't in the bill, he would've voted against it. I don't think you can compare Bernie's vote for the 94 crime bill to Biden's full-throated engineering of it though.

[Kahuna7]

6. So him being for the VAW excuses mass encarceration???

Got it.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

7. No but you have to balance it with everything else

and Bernie was not cheerleading mass incarceration the way Biden was. I assume you've seen the old footage of Biden on the Senate floor right? Show me video footage of Bernie advocating that we mass incarcerate.

[Kahuna7]

9. He bragged about his record when he was trying to win his senate races.

So, don't give me those lame excuses.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

21. It's not a lame excuse

What folks want to do is create a false equivalency between the two. And trust me, I'm not blind to Bernie's blindspots. I'm part of the people of the Left who acknowledge Bernie's blind spots on race. I just happen to think he's the best option because of his wide range of progressive policy positions that the country desperately needs right now. Biden IMHO is purely an anti-Trump vote, and not even a good one at that. Bernie isn't perfect and his vote for the 94 crime bill is definitely problematic...but I don't believe the intention behind it was the same despite the fact that it was a bad vote regardless.

I think this gets at the heart of why it's so difficult for the Democratic Party to really discuss mass incarceration. So many politicians are complicit.

[Nuggets]

30. How is incarceration of masses including black

WOMEN balancing it with everything else?
The excuse is ridiculous.


Presentism double standard is constantly used just like the establishment line. All it is doing is pushing me to stick with Joe.

[George II]

11. There's always a caveat with him when some of his bad votes are pointed out.

[NYMinute]

12. And it is so disingenuous all the time

Everyone but the devotees can see through it.

Like his vote in support of the Minutemen anti-immigrant militia.

[BannonsLiver]

35. By caveat surely you mean attempts to gaslight.

[SouthernProgressive]

33. The VAWA that was largely written and pushed through by Biden.

One of his signature pieces of legislation.

It’s hard to take your first paragraph seriously when moral justification comes so easily. Then again, it’s hard to take any debate seriously when it starts out with reasoning of dismissal without merit.

It must be recognized that the crime bill was federal. It’s not what a lot of people make it out to be.

This is a pox on both Sanders and Biden’s house. I think with Sanders it is even more emphasized with numerous votes that helped to continue the oppression perpetrated against many of our most vulnerable minorities, undocumented persons. It’s a trend.

For starters, to answer your question, the removal of individual number one is paramount. I believe Biden is probably the best person to accomplish that. Rhetoric makes a difference in society as a whole. We have a president who has called for the execution of innocent black men, generated as much fear among white communities as he possibly can, and promotes hatred at every turn. The rhetoric from Biden would be a drastic change.

Next, getting back to an AG office that actually studies and investigated local bodies will be huge. We had it under Obama and have lost it. The AG Biden appoints will have a dramatic impact across the country. Many communities changed how they policed due to studies and collaborative efforts by Holders office.

Similar goes for HUD and many other agencies. Biden would be a sea change.

I also believe Biden would push forward a better tax package, education reforms, and housing programs. All which have a major impact on opportunity. These things, if done properly, will have an enormous impact on a lot of criminal activity in the first place.

I really don’t see much of a difference Between Biden and Sanders in this area outside of Biden fighting for minorities on a more consisted basis and is respected more by his colleagues and can have a bigger impact.

There is no excuse for the crime bill. There is no justification for it. I suggest you look at Booker or one of the other candidates if that is it. It is a bit interesting that the excuse you outline for Sanders, even though he has spoken about being tough on crime, is one of Bidens greatest legislative accomplishment; the VAWA.

Please recognized that my comments only reflect a comparison of Biden and Sanders. Numerous primary candidates have a better history in this area than both of them.

[Jose Garcia]

39. Did he offer amendments to improve the bill?

[Vidal]

5. What's Important

Is to focus on this question: What do we do now?

What should we do now about this problem?

[DemocraticSocialist8]

8. I agree. That is an important question

One that I think is not answered by nominating the man who created the system all out of fear of Trump.

[Demsrule86]

50. It is not fear, I like Biden and strongly dislike Sanders who would only receive a vote from me in

the general. Careful, plenty of remarks by sanders and maybe video even about how he supported the crime bill and was a law and order guy.

[highplainsdem]

10. It's BS that Biden "helped create" the mass incarceration system.

As I've pointed out in other messages here, citing a Brennan Center article from 2016 when this was an issue during Clinton's campaign, the rate of mass incarceration had quadrupled from 1970 to 1994. If that rate had continued, it would have been expected to double again by 2006. It doubled again by 2009, indicating a slight slowing.

Not enough of an improvement, of course. But people claiming Biden helped create this problem don't understand history, or they're deliberately ignoring it to try to use this as an attack on Biden.

Individual states were also enacting lots of tough-on-crime laws, and there ALEC, the RW American Legislative Exchange Council

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council

deserves much of the blame for getting conservatives in state legislatures across the country to introduce their cookie-cutter bills.

Lots of black leaders supported the 1994 crime bill, too.

As for what data is supporting the belief many people hold that Biden is the most electable candidate in the race at this time -- it's called poll data.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

18. So him co-authoring the 94 Crime Bill isn't helping to make the situation worse?

He definitely wasn't on the side of rehabilitation either. I never said he was the sole person responsible, but to whitewash the role he played is itself historically disingenuous.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Why did Bernie vote for the bill?

And why does Vermont incarcerate African Americans at twice the national average? And why isn't Bernie raising hell that Vermont incarcerates African Americans at twice the national average?


Thank you in advance for the answers.

[Skya Rhen]

27. Under Obama, mass incarceration has decreased for the first time in nearly 50 years

President Obama and VP Biden were not just talk but action, when it came to addressing this issue.

What has BS done in his own state?



https://shareblue.com/under-obama-mass-incarceration-has-decreased-for-the-first-time-in-nearly-50-years/

[highplainsdem]

23. The words you yourself used were "helped create." That implies Biden helped

originate a trend that had in fact already existed for decades.

What's disingenuous is people trying to ignore the actual history.

I've seen countless tweets falsely claiming Biden is "responsible for mass incarceration."

Some of those are probably the result of sheer stupidity/ignorance on the part of the person tweeting that nonsense, but others are deliberate revisionist history with malicious intent, smears against Biden from both the left and the right.

RWers LOVE this argument. They want nothing more than to divide Democrats.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

42. Biden was integral to mass incarcerations propagation

and he was there from the very beginning. So yes, he was always on the wrong side of the issue. Incarceration rates doubled between 1994 and 2009.

[Demsrule86]

49. No he wasn't and this won't help Sanders,

[George II]

28. The 1994 crime bill expired in 2014, 15 years ago. Some of the provisions in it were extended....

....or re-passed, but essentially it ceased to exist 15 years ago.

I wonder how many people actually read the bill.

[NYMinute]

13. A message must have come from the HQ

This looks like today's anti-Biden talking point …. all soldiers to the battle stations!!

[highplainsdem]

15. The anti-Biden arguments are all over Twitter, where the left wing of the party and leftist non-

Democrats are over-represented, along with RW extremists.

[NYMinute]

22. yeah .. I agree but

"Message from HQ" gives it that Col. Klink-Sgt. Schultz feel ..

[still_one]

14. Not trying to be argumentative, but just saying being against mass incarceration isn't enough

What is meant by mass incarceration?

Are we saying that non-violent crimes should not be incarcerated, and only violent crimes should be?

What should the penalty be for various crimes committed?

[George II]

29. I've been asking people what they mean about "mass encarceration". It's an ominous term....

....but just how much did that bill, which expired 15 years ago, contribute to what is now termed "mass encarceration"?

For one thing, most of the bill pertains to FEDERAL prisoners, not state or local prisoners. Although it's a big number, there are only 225,000 Federal prisoners, less than 10% of all prisoners in the country. 57% of all inmates are in state prisons.

[still_one]

31. It is a complicated issue, and I am not sure what it entails

[George II]

16. People like talking about the "mass incarceration" that came about because of....

....the 1994 crime bill, forgetting that the crime bill was a FEDERAL law and had little to do with any increase in state and local prison population.

Less than 10% of the prisoners in the United States are Federal prisoners, 57% are in state prisons.

In addition, the 1994 crime bill was allowed to sunset ten years later in 2004.

[highplainsdem]

25. Thanks! Great points.

[Skya Rhen]

17. Black leaders and the black community supported the Crime Bill

I am a 45-year old AA woman and what I can say is if we are going to blame Biden then we should also blame our black leaders and our black community who, by an overwhelmingly large percentage, supported this bill. They pleaded with the Clinton administration for help to control the drastic rise in rape, murder and also the drug abuse in their neighborhoods. Their calls were heard and met with action by congress.

Our community desperately wanted criminals off the street (including the "non-violent" drug pushers who destroyed their children's lives). They wanted criminals locked up behind bars, away from themselves and their loved ones.

Were they wrong for wanting more prisons built to keep these criminals away from the rest of the law-abiding society?

Were they wrong for wanting to be safe in their homes and on their streets?

This scourge was not a figment of their imagination - it was real and was equivalent to a national emergency.

Put yourself in the shoes of the victims - not the "victimized" criminals but the real victims who actually fell prey to these criminals. We seem to forget about them, sometimes.

[c-rational]

26. Well stated Crime in 1994 was very high, and the reasons numerous. Hopefully we learn from it.

[Dream Girl]

32. Yep. I remember. There was a crime epidemic in our communities.

People felt victimized and wanted something done. People conveniently forget that blacks supported it and viewed it as a solution to crime run amok in our communities.

[Drunken Irishman]

36. It wasn't just black communities, either...

Even white areas like Salt Lake City, Utah, saw a huge increase in crime. Back in 1994, or roughly around there, Salt Lake City was named as one of America's deadliest cities. That's unfathomable to think about because I doubt people think of Utah, or Salt Lake, when they think of high crime areas. But at the time, in 1994, Salt Lake City had 24 homicides. That doesn't sound like a lot - until you realize the city only had 150,000 people back then.

Most the crime was related the gang epidemic sweeping many American cities.

Something had to be done. Crime absolutely was an epidemic in the early 90s. And a lot of communities supported tough efforts to get it under control because it was spreading like wildfire.

[oasis]

41. True that. I stand 100% behind the VICTIMS of crime. nt

[DemocraticSocialist8]

43. The NAACP was against the bill

But yes, I think there is a lack of accountability in the black community too for leaders who went along with this. Which is why I think even many older Black folks have problematic politics when it comes to this. Hell, you have black politicians today who are no good for the black community. Unfortunately, speaking as a Black person, too many of our people get into positions of power and mold themselves to oppressive systems instead of being agents of change. Look no further than Black police chiefs who cover up for white cops killing Black people.

[Turbineguy]

20. I don't think it has so much to do with

the personalities but more to do with trying to find a solution to a problem. In the short term, throwing people in jail, reduces crime and (somewhat) controls drug addiction.

If you judge in terms of "free will", then people should simply stop doing harmful things instead of making bad choices. And if they don't, you throw them in jail. You can then stop looking at all forms of inequality, negative influences that are profitable, poor education, etc., which are more difficult to solve. Nobody is going to get behind a program that improves things over several generations. They want solutions now.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

44. Studies actually show that mass incarceration didn't reduce crime though

[George II]

24. This is a great analysis of the history of the crime bill and it's effects....

https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/complex-history-controversial-1994-crime-bill

[Drunken Irishman]

37. From 1988 to 1994, mass incarceration went from 600,000 to 1 million...

That was an increase of 400,000 inmates added to the prison system in a six-year span. That was before the Crime Bill was even passed into law.

From 1995 to 2001, the same span (year), the prison population went from 1.2 million to 1.4 million.

So, in the six years after the crime bill became law, 200,000 more inmates were added to the prison population - which was 50% fewer than had been added the six-years prior. The damage was done well before the crime bill. To be fair, the crime bill didn't attempt to rectify an already increasingly bad situation but it didn't create it or even expand it. If anything, the prison population growth has slowed since the bill.

[Skya Rhen]

40. Thanks for this - I prefer factual figures rather than talking points - the numbers speak for

themselves...

[DemocraticSocialist8]

45. Ummm...Joe Biden was in office all of those years and advocated for tough-on-crime laws

It's not JUST about the 94 crime bill. It's about that entire era and the inability of people to reconcile with the damage that era has caused and frankly admit that the entire history of the drug war reeks of racism.

[Drunken Irishman]

46. Bernie was in office for some of that period, too.

So, I guess he gets the blame as well.

[Demsrule86]

48. Sanders signed the crime bill...he ran on it.

More attacks on Biden by Sanders by supporters and outrage mostly because Sanders is going to lose.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

59. It's not the same and I've already said Bernie SHOULD be criticized for signing the bill

I like Bernie, but he has blind spots like everybody else. I'm not a cheerleader. I support him because of his other stances on healthcare, the green new deal, wall street, etc, etc.

I just don't think there's an equivalency between Biden and Bernie on this. Did you know before the '94 crime bill there was another crime bill in 1991 I think called the 'Biden crime bill' which was co-authored with Strom Thurmond!?! I don't think folks realize how horrendous Biden was back then on this issue. Or perhaps folks have forgotten since it was so long ago. Look it up.

[Drunken Irishman]

61. Look, I don't know what your game is here...

But my response was to point out that Biden is not responsible for the increase in mass incarceration, and he isn't. If that's your argument, you're wrong. The Biden-Thurmond Violent Crime Control Act of 1991 didn't even pass, and was an extension of Biden's initial crime bill from that time that was killed due to strict gun control measures Republicans couldn't agree to.

The 1991 Biden Crime Bill also put some strict restrictions on the death penalty, including adding in habeas corpus provisions.

Here's some quotes about the fight for this bill:

On Nov. 24, conferees finally met to draft a joint crime bill. It went badly. Democrats were convinced that Republicans had decided to sabotage the bill because the president couldn't support gun control. Republicans claimed the Senate-House Democratic conspiracy wanted a weak bill to force a presidential veto.

The Republicans refused to cooperate, but the more numerous Democrats passed the bill anyway. "The Republicans tried to stall, so I finally said 'Here's the bill,' and we passed it," Biden said. "Yes, we just {steam}rolled it."

The Bush administration promised a veto and launched a ferocious lobbying effort to derail the bill in the House, but on Nov. 27 the fractious Democrats held together long enough to pass it, 205 to 203. Then, a few hours later, Senate Republicans threatened a filibuster and threw the bill into legislative limbo. There it remains.

Today, Democrats accuse the Republicans of bargaining in bad faith and getting cold feet when they realized that a Democrat-backed bill could pass. The real dispute, said Biden, was not habeas corpus, but "guns, guns, guns." If Bush accepted the Brady bill, Biden charged, the Republican right would abandon him.

[Skya Rhen]

63. Thanks for providing facts to refute that smearing of Biden's 1991 bill...

[Kahuna7]

53. I don't know where you live, but being tough on crime isn't a bad thing.

Where I'm from, it's a good thing.

[loyalsister]

38. Willie Horton

The strident tough on crime positioning had everything to do with the 1988 loss and was a more subtle racist response to the blatant racist strategy that damaged Michael Dukakis's campaign after he responded to the question about the death penalty. After the Willie Horton ad had damaged the Democratic presidential candidate, being tough on crime became a requirement for presidential candidates.
As someone who has been involved with anti-racist efforts, the denial of the effects of the crime bill is mystifying. Three strikes and mandatory minimums were enacted in numerous states in the mid 90s as the federal crime bill held them up as the standard.
Welfare reform imposed more damage when it was enacted soon after. The safety net for single parents was decimated after income providers were removed from families. It disproportionately affected non white families and it was devastating. The rhetoric and arguments used to facilitate those policies were unabashedly racist. Beginning with Reagan's welfare queen, the sociological studies, reporting, and discussion presumed that people of color were the majority of recipients. It was another instance of white resentment fueling the agenda to cut social programs. Significantly, it solidified the strategy and contributed to the systemic racism which continues today. I think it is inexcusable and indefensible. And I'm glad we have candidates who were did not explicitly support the policies that continue to damage families. It is no coincidence that making it more difficult for non white families to survive coincides with limiting reproductive choices for white women. It is part of subtle and persistent remnants of the eugenics movement which was explicitly supported by white supremacists (along with progressives) for decades- actually nearly a century by now.

[Demsrule86]

47. Sanders signed the crime bill and ran on it as late as 06..

So I think this is just a shot at Biden. Sanders has opined often how economic justice will provide social justice as well. But that simply is not true, what happens is marginalized groups don't get a seat at the table. So you want to support Sanders good for you but let's not pretend it is about criminal justice because clearly it is not,

[Skya Rhen]

51. What is Bernie Sanders doing about the disproportionate amount of African Americans, compared to

white people, being incarcerated in his own state of Vermont?

https://www.vpr.org/post/why-are-there-so-many-african-americans-incarcerated-vermont#stream/0

[Kahuna7]

52. Define Mass Incarceration. How incarceration is too much? nt

[Freethinker65]

54. I would say no.

Democrats have been vocal about built in problems of mandatory sentencing and for profit prisons. Democrats have also suggested throwing out convictions for minor drug offenses, returning voting rights, maintaining social programs and funding education.

Where Democrats get into trouble is that they are afraid of being labeled "soft on crime" by the Republicans. No one wants someone being released early turning around and committing a horrendous act being used against them politically.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

55. I've slowly been getting into decarceration/abolitionist work and find it fascinating and urgently

important. Among many white liberals, there's definitely an attitude of "Well of course the criminal justice system is violent, biased and probably oversteps its bounds, but..."

People focused on party politics -- as DU overwhelmingly is -- are going to have conversations about decarceration only in the framework of whether it's a winning issue. Will it help win elections? Will it help my candidate? Can a person in office sponsor a bill, or is it a campaign-killer? Because of that reality, I feel like having conversations about decarceration are a lot more fruitful in other spaces -- activist groups, one-on-one, etc.

[McCamy Taylor]

56. With a name like "DemocraticSocialist8" it has to be good.

[emulatorloo]

57. No. This is a good example of the "Loaded Question" fallacy

Loaded Question/Complex Question Fallacy:

https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/69/Complex-Question-Fallacy

Complex Question Fallacy
plurium interrogationum

(also known as: many questions fallacy, fallacy of presupposition, loaded question, trick question, false question)

Description: A question that has a presupposition built in, which implies something but protects the one asking the question from accusations of false claims. It is a form of misleading discourse, and it is a fallacy when the audience does not detect the assumed information implicit in the question and accepts it as a fact.

—————————


Appreciate seeing your post. Looking forward to reading more from you!

[SouthernProgressive]

58. Current Party Platform

REFORMING OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Democrats are committed to reforming our criminal justice system and ending mass incarceration. Something is profoundly wrong when almost a quarter of the world’s prison population is in the United States, even though our country has less than five percent of the world’s population. We will reform mandatory minimum sentences and close private prisons and detention centers. Research and evidence, rather than slogans and sound bites, must guide criminal justice policies.

We will rebuild the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Across the country, there are police officers inspiring trust and confidence, honorably doing their duty, deploying creative and effective strategies, and demonstrating that it is possible to prevent crime without relying on unnecessary force. They deserve our respect and support, and we should learn from those examples and build on what works.

We will work with police chiefs to invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the creation of national guidelines for the appropriate use of force. We will encourage better police-community relations, require the use of body cameras, and stop the use of weapons of war that have no place in our communities. We will end racial profiling that targets individuals solely on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin, which is un-American and counterproductive. We should report national data on policing strategies and provide greater transparency and accountability. We will require the Department of Justice to investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings, and we will support states and localities who help make those investigations and prosecutions more transparent, including through reforming the grand jury process. We will assist states in providing a system of public defense that is adequately resourced and which meets American Bar Association standards. And we will reform the civil asset forfeiture system to protect people and remove perverse incentives for law enforcement to “police for a profit.”

Instead of investing in more jails and incarceration, we need to invest more in jobs and education, and end the school-to-prison pipeline. We will remove barriers to help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter society by “banning the box,” expanding reentry programs, and restoring voting rights. We think the next President should take executive action to ban the box for federal employers and contractors, so applicants have an opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications before being asked about their criminal records.

The “war on drugs” has led to the imprisonment of millions of Americans, disproportionately people of color, without reducing drug use. Whenever possible, Democrats will prioritize prevention and treatment over incarceration when tackling addiction and substance use disorder. We will build on effective models of drug courts, veterans’ courts, and other diversionary programs that seek to give nonviolent offenders opportunities for rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration.

Because of conflicting federal and state laws concerning marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from the list of “Schedule 1″ federal controlled substances and to appropriately regulate it, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization. We believe that the states should be laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize it or provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so. We support policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty. And we recognize our current marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact in terms of arrest rates for African Americans that far outstrip arrest rates for whites, despite similar usage rates.

We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment. It has no place in the United States of America. The application of the death penalty is arbitrary and unjust. The cost to taxpayers far exceeds those of life imprisonment. It does not deter crime. And, exonerations show a dangerous lack of reliability for what is an irreversible punishment.

We have been inspired by the movements for criminal justice that directly address the discriminatory treatment of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians to rebuild trust in the criminal justice system.

Many other aspects of the platform would also be beneficial.

[radical noodle]

60. It appears you were a child

when the 1994 crime bill was passed. I was in my late 40s. There was a different conversation at the time and if some understood what the bill would do to escalate mass incarceration, I'm not sure there was widespread awareness of it. I think black communities suffered from crime at the time in a disproportionate way.

Sure, we understand now that it had negative effects but there was African American support for the bill as well. Biden needs to get on the bandwagon for fixing the problem, but I don't think should be blamed for his support for the bill at the time.

Read this by Yolanda Young:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/analysis-black-leaders-supported-clinton-s-crime-bill-n552961

I don't think it helps to continue to rail against past decisions. What matters to me is what we do to correct it. JMHO

[Skya Rhen]

62. I completely agree with your analysis. And the Obama/Biden admin made great stride in reducing mass

incarceration. I am sure that Biden would continue what he and Obama started, if elected...


https://shareblue.com/under-obama-mass-incarceration-has-decreased-for-the-first-time-in-nearly-50-years/