Biden criminal justice plan reverses part of 1994 crime bill

DES MOINES, Iowa: Joe Biden plans to propose a criminal justice agenda that would reverse key provisions of the 1994 crime bill that he helped write as a senator and that his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have blamed for the mass incarceration of racial minorities since then.

Most notably, the former vice president is endorsing an end to the disparity that placed stricter sentencing terms on offences involving crack versus powder cocaine as well as an end to the federal death penalty, which the 1994 crime bill authorized as a potential punishment for an increasing number of crimes.

The criminal justice policy, which Biden plans to outline Tuesday during an appearance in New Orleans, comes as he works to reinforce his support among African American voters. The timing is important, especially after rival California Sen. Kamala Harris impugned Biden's civil rights record during last month's Democratic presidential debates. It also comes as Biden prepares for next week's presidential debates when he will face Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, both of whom have sharply criticized his role in the Clinton-era crime law.

Biden campaign chairman Cedric Richmond called the plan "the most forward-leaning criminal justice policy proposed." Richmond, a Louisiana representative and former public defender, praised it for building on Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott's SAFE Justice Act, which would reserve prison space for violent offenders and offer a wider range of non-prison sentencing alternatives. Scott's bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

By building on Scott's bill, Biden, who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for decades, is moving significantly to the left but not quite as far as endorsing the type of sweeping overhaul championed by Booker. Booker unveiled a proposal this year that would go beyond the criminal justice measure that President Donald Trump signed into law last year by slashing mandatory minimum sentences.

And Biden's shift on the death penalty also puts him in line with every other Democratic presidential candidate except for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. It's a stark change of Biden's previous approach to the issue: Touting the toughness of the crime bill in 1992, the then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman joked that it would do "everything but hang people for jaywalking."

Biden's plan would seek to create a $20 billion grant program to encourage states to reduce incarceration by increasing spending on child abuse prevention, education and literacy, as long as states eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent crimes.

He also would expand the Justice Department's role in rooting out institutional misconduct by police departments and prosecutors and would establish an independent task force to study prosecutorial discretion in an attempt to head off racial and ethnic discrimination.

The plan also includes spending $1 billion annually on changes in the juvenile justice system and identifies as a goal that all former inmates have access to housing when they leave prison.

Biden also plans to seek a renewed ban on assault weapons, an element of the 1994 crime bill he continues to promote, and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Trump, a Republican, tweeted in May while championing his own criminal justice measure that "anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you."

Since the last debate, Biden has focused his campaign speeches on his stint as vice president and has aggressively proposed policies in recent weeks that build on gains in President Barack Obama's administration, including criminal justice.

Booker has hinted that he would renew his criticisms of Biden's lead role on the 1994 crime bill when the two candidates share the stage during the second set of Democratic presidential debates in Detroit next week. The legislation that Biden passed "put mass incarceration on steroids," Booker told CBS on Sunday.

Harris, too, has criticized Biden's role in the 1994 bill. However, Biden plans to note during his speech Tuesday his time as a public defender before entering politics in the early 1970s.

Although Biden advisers say it's not a subtle shot at Harris, who has been criticized by criminal justice reform advocates as being too tough on the accused during her tenures as the San Francisco district attorney and as California's attorney general before she was elected senator.

Harris has answered those criticisms by saying she supports major changes to federal criminal justice.