President Donald Trump on Friday hit out at former Vice President Joe Biden for supporting the 1994 crime bill, which has been criticized for its role in mass incarceration and prison overcrowding.
“Sleepy Joe Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill was a total disaster. It was mass incarceration for Black people, many of them innocent,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “I did Criminal Justice Reform, something [former President Barack] Obama & Biden didn’t even try to do — & couldn’t do even if they did try. Biden can never escape his Crime Bill!”
Biden, during his time in the Senate, voted for the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that was later signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. It passed partly in response to the mass shooting on California Street in San Francisco in 1993 and the Waco siege that same year.
Although some of the bill’s provisions remain popular, such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, much of the legislation has come under criticism for its role in mass incarceration and prison overcrowding because of its “three strikes” provision.
The bill had strong bipartisan support at the time but has become more unpopular, especially among Democrats, in recent years. Biden has expressed regret for his past positions on criminal justice, and has said recently that he would revise parts of the legislation, specifically to eliminate racial disparities and give inmates more options for a second chance.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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