Thread by @Cajsa

There are a couple reasons the crime bill is controversial today, but was not nearly so controversial then. First, crime really was skyrocketing & violent crime, in particular, grew. Violent crime has declined since then WORLDWIDE, so the Crime Bill is not why it's declined

https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1221468426855755776

Look at the violent crime rate since the 70s. People did not know why crime was increasing and saw a correlation with drug use, particularly crack. They were wrong, but you can see how they got there.

More significant, I believe, was the exposure to and the abatement of lead in gasoline. For more on this topic, check out Mother Jones where that topic is an obsession.
motherjones.com/?s=lead+crime

So when folks were advocating for the Crime Bill, there was a reason. Imagine in the upward trajectory kept going up and up. The rising crime rate birthed the myth of the SuperPredator. See this 1995 editorial
washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standar…

It was a bad theory and proved wrong over time, but it was on the cover of Time or Newsweek or both. It was salient. And frankly, the crack epidemic linked so much to Blackness fed racist stereotypes and fears.
motherjones.com/kevin-drum/201…

After all, the Second Amendment is all about fear of Black people rising up and killing white people. This irrational fear has fed American politics our entire existence.

And many Black electeds and community leaders favored the crime bill. Black people were on the receiving end of violent crime, too. Also, there were high hopes that community policing would address racist police behavior.

They had this idea that police just didn't know the people on their beat anymore, so they were more suspicious. They talked about getting cops out their cars, walking a beat, saying hello to the butcher, barber, and candlestick maker
bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=t…

In practice, it just meant more police, not closer-community police relationships. No Officer Friendly, it just has not lived up to its promise.
theappeal.org/community-poli…

The other thing to remember about the Crime Bill is that it is not what drives mass incarceration. The federal prison system is small compared to state prisons. See, incarceration went up before the Crime Bill & mostly thanks to Rockefeller Drug Laws spreading across the country

So yes, Biden wrote part of the Crime Bill, most significantly the Violence Against Women Act that Bernie cites as his reason for voting for it. (Phony reason, as the video demonstrates he supported it to be tough on crime). But don't forget it was all about this

When people focus on decriminalizing marijuana or other drugs and on the federal system, you should know their understanding of mass incarceration is facile and probably based on one Nation article and their own love of weed.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…

If you are interested in fighting over-incarceration a nd racial disparity in the criminal justice system, you should all follow @JohnFPfaff

Here's a short intro

@JohnFPfaff There is some very good work being done to look at over-incarceration.
This is by far the most persuasive and best book, but is weak on figuring out how to go from knowing the problem to fixing it
basicbooks.com/titles/john-pf…

@JohnFPfaff This book takes on the issue of prosecutors and the need for better prosecutors and no, this is not the Bazelon who wrote that infamous attack on Kamala, this is her sister @emilybazelon

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/548313/c…

@JohnFPfaff And this book by Rachel Elise Barkow @RachelBarkow who looks at the political motivations and moral hazards that drive mass incarceration
hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?is…

@JohnFPfaff @RachelBarkow Then if you really want to get depressed, there is this book on how much bias there is that we are not even aware of
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/221731/u…

@JohnFPfaff @RachelBarkow Anyway, the point is, the Crime Bill is not on par with Dred Scott and Plessy v Ferguson. It is a mix of bad and good and a whole lot of fear inspired by truly scary increases in violent crime. The way out of mass incarceration is much more complex than legalizing drugs

@JohnFPfaff @RachelBarkow We need to change our attitude toward violence and realize that a lot of violence is something folks grow out of when they get older. That a diversion program or a short sentence is probably enough for a fistfight, or even better a reparative justice approach

@JohnFPfaff @RachelBarkow We need more nuance than zero tolerance.