The 1994 crime bill continues to be a liability for Joe Biden on the campaign trail, with the latest criticism of his support for the bill coming from presidential primary competitor Cory Booker.
“Why did it take him so long to apologize?” the New Jersey senator said at a Washington Post Live event on Thursday when asked if Biden should be held accountable for the bill’s repercussions. “I’m stunned. Bernie Sanders voted for that bill. Members of the Black Caucus did. They, years ago, came out and said … they regret that vote.”
The crime bill “put mass incarceration on steroids,” Booker said. “It is a horrific bill that has led to the reality right now that is indefensible, where we have more African Americans under criminal supervision in America than all the slaves in 1850.”
The bill, which Biden helped craft as a senator, created “three strikes” mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders and increased prison funding by about $10 billion, among other provisions. Criminal justice reform advocates have condemned the law.
In a speech in Sumter, South Carolina earlier in July, Biden said that his record on the 1994 crime bill has been “grossly misrepresented.” He said that he opposed provisions in the bill such as mandatory minimums and more money for state prisons, and he highlighted provisions in the bill such as the Violence Against Women Act and a ban on assault-style weapons.
“I will accept responsibility for [what] went right, but I will also accept responsibility for what went wrong,” Biden said.
During the same Sumter speech, Biden apologized for “any of the pain and misconception” after he pointed to his relationships with segregationist senators as an example of civility during a fundraiser in June.
Biden has previously addressed the crime bill on the campaign trail.
At a May campaign stop in New Hampshire, Biden said that the crime bill “did not generate mass incarceration” and that “the big mistake in the crime bill” were sentences that treated crack cocaine more harshly than powder cocaine.
In January, before he announced his presidential campaign, Biden expressed regret for decisions made during that time that “trapped an entire generation.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, another presidential hopeful, has said that his policy positions to address racial inequality serve to help him try to correct his vote in favor of the crime bill as a congressman.
“Apologies are not enough,” Booker said. “Commitments to action are what we need right now to deal with what is a cancer on the soul of this country — a system of mass incarceration.”
