The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/elections-2020/)
Presidential contender and South Bend, In., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is promoting a plan to fight racism in the justice system and elsewhere in American life. But his hardest job may be to convince African Americans in his hometown that he’s serious.
The bill, backed by civil-rights and housing advocates, would prohibit tenant evictions over a single incident of minor criminal activity.
Biden’s plan will focus on a number of key areas, including overcriminalization, lowering recidivism and crafting sentencing alternatives, said CNN. According to a Biden adviser, it will be ‘among the most progressive’ plans proposed by the 2020 Democratic candidates.
Put on the firing line during Thursday’s presidential debates because of the police shooting in his city, South Bend, In., Mayor Pete Buttigieg admitted that efforts to make cops more accountable and avoid bias had failed. ‘I couldn’t get it done,’ he conceded, ensuring the issue of what he called “systemic police racism” will continue to have salience during the 2020 campaign.
Skirmishes on guns, immigration and policing during Wednesday’s debate among Democratic presidential contenders suggested that the shape of the party’s justice platform is still up for grabs. Meanwhile several studies and questionnaires are looking at candidates’positions on guns and police shootings.
As Democratic presidential contenders squared off last week, a TCR columnist said “reimagining” the US prison system was among the few issues that had potential for winning bipartisan support.
Politico compiled the views of the 20-plus Democratic presidential candidates on criminal justice and other policy issues. Example: eight contenders want to eliminate mandatory minimum prison terms.
Critics say the law helped increase incarceration and harm blacks. Joe Biden’s supporters say he was getting tough on crime in the 1990s to help reduce African-American victimization.
At a town hall meeting after a white police officer fatally shot a black suspect, Mayor Pete Buttigieg took responsibility for a lack of minority officers and police body cameras.
Democratic presidential candidates, seizing on anger over the mistreatment of immigrants at privately run detention centers, are pushing to outlaw private prisons altogether, moving the issue to prominence in the 2020 race.