Critics say Biden is ‘Tinkering’ With Criminal Justice Reform
The frustration of reformers has begun to boil over into public criticism of the president, who campaigned on pledges to reduce mass incarceration and sentencing. "I think we're at a point where we're saying, mere lip service isn't enough," said Sakira Cook of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
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Noting that the federal prison population has increased by about 5,000 people during his tenure, activists say President Joe Biden has failed to push for serious overhaul of the criminal justice system and is instead only “tinkering” around the edges of reform, NPR reports.
The frustration of reformers has begun to boil over into public criticism of the president, who campaigned on pledges to reduce mass incarceration and sentencing. “I think we’re at a point where we’re saying, mere lip service isn’t enough,” said Sakira Cook, senior director of the justice reform program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
“We want to see some concrete action.”
Cook and other reformers met last week with White House officials to push demands for the president to move faster. The White House responded stiffly that the president has taken steps to reform the system “since his first day in office,” according to a statement released after the meeting, listing measures like federal restrictions on the use of chokeholds by police and expanding re-entry services.
Advocates say these measures were welcome, but aren’t enough. Kevin Ring, the leader of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) called on the president to issue clemency to individuals released from prison during the COVID pandemic, noting it was a “bellwether” move.
“If the administration won’t address this, and address it immediately, I don’t know what hope we can have that other things are going to get done,” he said.
Other beefs with the White House include the lack of action on filling vacancies on the Sentencing Commission, which sets federal sentencing guidelines for many crimes.
“In the past, some of the best reforms [that] have been achieved in the last 10 years have been at the Sentencing Commission and they haven’t even nominated people to fill this vacant body,” said Ring.
