In releasing his new crime policy?
He does an about face…..
The ‘tough on crime’ thing is gone….
Different times it would seem …..
And election politics….
Former vice president Joe Biden, who has faced criticism from liberals for spearheading a 1994 law when he was a senator that cracked down on criminals, announced a proposal Tuesday that would eliminate the death penalty and embrace other changes at odds with that earlier legislation.
The Democratic presidential candidate would aim to pass legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal level and offer incentives to states to follow suit, his new plan says. Convicted criminals who would face execution under current law would instead be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Biden’s plan also would decriminalize marijuana and expunge past cannabis-related convictions; end the disparity between sentences for powder and crack cocaine; and do away with all incarceration for drug use alone. In addition, it would create a $20 billion grant program to spur states to move from incarceration to crime prevention and eliminate mandatory-minimum sentences.
Attitudes about race and criminal justice have changed significantly over the years in both parties, partly as a result of decreasing crime rates. Democrats in particular have moved sharply away from ideas that give greater powers to the police and prosecutors, instead committing to addressing inequities that they say have damaged minority communities.
The release of Biden’s criminal justice plan comes about a week before the next round of televised Democratic primary debates, when his record is expected to come under renewed scrutiny. His support for the 1994 crime bill has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats, who argue that it led to mass incarceration and tilted the system unfairly against African Americans…..
Note….
While the real Joe Biden probably has no problem with thinking ‘I did what I did back in the day’?
Kamala Harris has made defending back in the day VERY DIFFICULT….
Hence a policy that will be stronger to defend now and try to take the spotlight from the past…
We ARE in differnt times, and right now?…..Biden needs to give himself and his supporters some cover….
image…latimes