Biden criminal justice plan reverses part of 1994 crime bill

Joe Biden plans to propose a criminal justice agenda that would reverse key provisions of the 1994 crime bill that he helped write as a senator and that his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have blamed for the mass incarceration of racial minorities since then.

Most notably, the former vice president is endorsing an end to the disparity that placed stricter sentencing terms on offenses involving crack versus powder cocaine as well as an end to the federal death penalty, which the 1994 crime bill authorized as a potential punishment for an increasing number of crimes.

The criminal justice policy, which Biden plans to outline Tuesday during an appearance in New Orleans, comes as he works to reinforce his support among African American voters. The timing is important, especially after rival California Sen. Kamala Harris impugned Biden's civil rights record during last month's Democratic presidential debates. It also comes as Biden prepares for next week's presidential debates , when he will face Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, both of whom have sharply criticized his role in the Clinton-era crime law.

Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden takes a selfie with a supporter during a campaign event at an electrical workers union hall Saturday, July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoJohn Locher)

Biden campaign chairman Cedric Richmond called the plan "the most forward-leaning criminal justice policy proposed." Richmond, a Louisiana representative and former public defender, praised it for building on Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott's SAFE Justice Act, which would reserve prison space for violent offenders and offer a wider range of non-prison sentencing alternatives. Scott's bipartisan bill is co-sponsored by other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

By building on Scott's bill, Biden, who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for decades, is moving significantly to the left but not quite as far as endorsing the type of sweeping overhaul championed by Booker. Booker unveiled a proposal this year that would go beyond the criminal justice measure that President Donald Trump signed into law last year by slashing mandatory minimum sentences.

And Biden's shift on the death penalty also puts him in line with every other Democratic presidential candidate except for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. It's a stark change of Biden's previous approach to the issue: Touting the toughness of the crime bill in 1992, the then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman joked that it would do "everything but hang people for jaywalking."

Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at an electrical workers union hall Saturday, July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoJohn Locher)

Biden's plan would seek to create a $20 billion grant program to encourage states to reduce incarceration by increasing spending on child abuse prevention, education and literacy, as long as states eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent crimes.

He also would expand the Justice Department's role in rooting out institutional misconduct by police departments and prosecutors and would establish an independent task force to study prosecutorial discretion in an attempt to head off racial and ethnic discrimination.

The plan also includes spending $1 billion annually on changes in the juvenile justice system and identifies as a goal that all former inmates have access to housing when they leave prison.

Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden calls during a campaign phone bank event an electrical workers union hall Saturday, July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoJohn Locher)

Biden also plans to seek a renewed ban on assault weapons, an element of the 1994 crime bill he continues to promote, and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Trump, a Republican, tweeted in May while championing his own criminal justice measure that "anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill will not have a chance of being elected. In particular, African Americans will not be able to vote for you."

Since the last debate, Biden has focused his campaign speeches on his stint as vice president and has aggressively proposed policies in recent weeks that build on gains in President Barack Obama's administration, including criminal justice.

Former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in an electrical workers union hall Saturday, July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP PhotoJohn Locher)

Booker has hinted that he would renew his criticisms of Biden's lead role on the 1994 crime bill when the two candidates share the stage during the second set of Democratic presidential debates in Detroit next week. The legislation that Biden passed "put mass incarceration on steroids," Booker told CBS on Sunday.

Harris, too, has criticized Biden's role in the 1994 bill. However, Biden plans to note during his speech Tuesday his time as a public defender before entering politics in the early 1970s.

Although Biden advisers say it's not a subtle shot at Harris, who has been criticized by criminal justice reform advocates as being too tough on the accused during her tenures as the San Francisco district attorney and as California's attorney general before she was elected senator.

Harris has answered those criticisms by saying she supports major changes to federal criminal justice.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)