And isn't he still defending ramming it thru? Yes.

Joe Biden’s defense of the 1994 crime bill’s role in mass incarcerations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/05/16/joe-bidens-defense-crime-bills-role-incarceration-trend/

Joe Biden Defends Co-Authoring 1994 Crime Bill At NAACP Convention
https://www.bet.com/news/national/2019/07/28/joe-biden-defends-crime-bill.html

So your point is?

That it's bad to realize that much more work needs to be done on criminal justice reform?

That we should all still defend the 1994 Crime Bill like Biden is doing?

....that was passed overwhelmingly in 1994. BIG difference.

So your point is?

Now, please find a quote of Biden's where he says that the 1994 crime bill is still valid and relevant in 2019. It will be a long and probably fruitless search.

It should also be noted that in 1995 when Democrats wanted to correct the disparity of penalties between crack cocaine and powder cocaine by lowering that for crack, Sanders refused to support it. Instead he insisted that the penalty for powder cocaine be raised to that for crack cocaine.

....in the Senate (95-4) and fairly easily in the House with 75% majority of Democrats (235-195, 188-64 Democrats)

and as recently as 2006 touted this fact in a section of his website labeled “Bernie Sanders’ strong record of supporting tough on crime legislation.” The page also included his votes for funding for antidrug and other crime programs. In 1995, Sanders also voted against a bill whose aim was to “demilitarize” the police.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/sanders-now-a-reformer-once-boasted-of-being-223600102.html

Biden championed his bill and supported all its provisions.

Sanders made his issues with the crime bill well known, and tried to amend it, ultimately voting for it despite what he saw as its flaws. There were things he liked (he's spoken about the Violence Against Women provisions), but things he spoke against even as he voted for it, including voting for an amendment to take the death penalty out of it. Ignore the obnoxious background music, this video makes the point, comparing how the two of them discussed the 1994 bill as it was happening... one thinking it was a great bill (and with his name on it), the other speaking against it despite ultimately voting for it as a difficult compromise. Virtually all of what Bernie said, he'd say today. I assume/hope that's not true of Biden.

I don't think he gets anywhere near the criticism he should get. He was proud he voted for it according to him in 2006. I always thought, "watch what they DO not what they SAY" to be more important.

That's simplistic. Both are important. Put another way, if he voted AGAINST the bill, people would be criticizing him for voting the wrong way on violence against women. You have to listen to what someone says when an issue is complex and its component parts can't be broken out and understood by virtue of a simple yes or no vote. Sanders was in favor of some aspects of the bill, but against the punitive aspects. But he could not vote for some parts without the others.

So here is how his site touted that vote in 2006, directly from the link in the article you referenced:
https://web.archive.org/web/20061018180921/http:/www.bernie.org/truth/crime.html

an entrenched, comfortable and powerful dysfunctional status quo that can be a double edged sword.

Ie; righteous anger coupled with vision can be perceived as "arrogance" or "self-righteousness" or at the very least falsely presented as such by his opponents.

The psychological or emotional price of being a "prophet in your own land," conscious or subconscious guilt usually drives that.


Peace to you.

I believe Trump won South Carolina.

simply because they can't pay bail--and those people are disproportionately black and brown--has real street cred on criminal justice reform.

hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly African-Americans, were being held in jail for months or years, even though they've never been convicted of a crime, simply because they can't afford bail. I've learned a lot. I see the racial disparities clearer than ever."

they know less about about criminal justice than Bernie? Yes, I know all about the complaints about Harris as AG, and most are just propaganda. As the head of the second largest prosecutorial agency in the country, she can't be held to the standard of perfection.

And, since being in the Senate, both have written or sponsored more crime legislation than Bernie has.

Once again, Bernie is all talk, no substance.

It's easy to be better than Trump. It's harder for any one individual to look equally good when stacked up against the DEMOCRATS who are seeking the Democratic Nomination for POTUS.

than Sanders on actually getting things done.