Americans are increasingly waking up to the fact that Joe Biden is indeed guilty of growing America's prison system.
The 1994 Clinton crime bill arguably contributed to an increase in disproportionate imprisonment of African-Americans, and caused hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders to go to prison.
Although many in the liberal media would have voters believe that Biden regrets his "vote" on the bill, Biden has said he regrets that vote "not one bit". In fact, to characterize Biden's contribution to that bill as merely a vote, is deceptive. Biden wrote the bill.
If the Biden-Harris Administration doesn't do something to show they're better at dealing with crime than the Trump-Pence Administration was - and if Joe Biden doesn't repeal his signature legislation (the 1994 crime bill) or substantially reform policing in a way that secures the progressives' vote in 2024 - then it's likely that Donald Trump could have a chance at re-election to the presidency.
Here is a set of forty-eight reforms - to policing, drugs, immigration, and war - that, if implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration, could prevent the re-election of Donald Trump.
These suggested reforms are organized according to the level of government to which they correspond. Look up your state and federal representatives' phone numbers and e-mail addresses - on www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, and the website of your state's election board - to find out whom, and how, to call lawmakers about these issues.
These suggested reforms are organized according to the level of government to which they correspond. Look up your state and federal representatives' phone numbers and e-mail addresses - on www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, and the website of your state's election board - to find out whom, and how, to call lawmakers about these issues.
Call your U.S. congressman or U.S. senator to demand that President Biden and his Justice Department:
1. Issue executive orders and signing statements that will end enforcement of the 1994 crime bill, resulting in the partial or total repeal of the 1994 omnibus crime bill which Joe Biden authored (i.e., the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994).
1. Issue executive orders and signing statements that will end enforcement of the 1994 crime bill, resulting in the partial or total repeal of the 1994 omnibus crime bill which Joe Biden authored (i.e., the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994).
2. Treat federal “mandatory” minimum sentencing guidelines as the optional guidelines they are; regarding them as unconstitutional or at least merely advisory and optional (being that they allow courts to take into account information not covered in the guidelines, and can create ex post facto law problems).
3. End the federal funding of S.A.M.H.S.A. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)’s state drug courts, authorized by Section 509 of the Public Health Service Act.
4. Remove cannabis products, opioids, 18-MC, and ibogaine from the list of Schedule I drugs.
5. End the scheduling of all drugs that are not extremely toxic to the point where touching them can cause overdoses.
6. Support increased funding for drug addiction-related needs and Covid-related mental health needs.
Call your U.S. senator(s) to demand that they urge President Biden and his Dept. of Homeland Security to:
7. Prohibit V.I.P.R. squads (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response Teams) from searching for drugs, except for drugs which can cause overdoses if touched, and as part of searches following the discovery of evidence indicating intent of committing a real crime against people or property.
8. Repeal all portions of the Patriot Act which violate due process and/or are not essential to updating laws regarding legal technologies for tracking criminals.
9. Prevent U.S. Code Title 6 on Domestic Security (now non-positive law) from becoming positive law.
10. Direct border guards to replace hot plastic bottles full of water with cold water, instead of knocking them over.
11. Pass a law requiring detention facilities to keep sources of drinking water and toilet water at least fifteen feet away from one another, and both available to all detainees.
12. Abolish the Department of Homeland Security, placing any duties of the I.C.E. and C.B.P. which don’t violate due process, under the authority of a new agency called the Department of Naturalization Regulation Services.
13. Refrain from using Covid-19 as an excuse to discourage immigration; allow Doctors Without Borders -type organizations, and other volunteer health organizations, to treat refugees at the border.
14. Train T.S.A. agents to be mindful of their customers’ medical needs and limitations.
15. End the racist practice of joint U.S.-Israeli police training.
Call your U.S. senator to demand that President Biden and his Defense Department:
16. De-fund the L.E.S.O. (Law Enforcement Support Office), ending the 1033 program that put tanks in local police departments.
17. Cease enforcing the Authorization for the Use of Military Force of 2001 (which authorized the War on Terror), or else call upon Congress to propose legislation which would repeal that law and end the wars.
18. Verify that the state of emergency over the situation in Korea is not still in place. Demand review of Executive Orders 10195 and 10585 to make sure that E.O. 10195 is not still in effect and was totally ended by E.O. 10585. Additionally, demand review of E.O.s 13466, 13551, 13570, 13687, 13722, and 13810, and consider reversing them or otherwise ceasing to enforce them.
19. Withdraw troops and contractors from Iraq and Syria.
20. Deliver on their plan to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by 9/11/21, and don’t leave contractors.
21. End U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabia’s racist war on Yemen.
22. Withdraw more troops from Germany than Trump did (12,000) and dismantle Ramstein Air Force Base.
23. Withdraw troops from South Korea, and dismantle the base at Camp Humphreys.
24. Dismantle bases in Baghdad, Diego Garcia, and Thule in Greenland, and the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
25. Unite the Department of Defense with the Department of State, and shift funds from militarism to diplomacy while creating a Department of Peace.
Call your state senator or state assemblyperson to demand that your state’s governor:
26-29. Nullify the 1994 omnibus crime bill, resulting in:
26. One hundred thousand fewer police officers on the street.
27. An end to the federal subsidization of states to build more prisons.
28. The decrease of some drug penalties.
29. The re-legalization of 19 types of automatic weapons.
30. Cease enforcing laws against victimless infractions which are based on the Model Penal Code (especially the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Oregon, which have fully implemented it).
31. Protect the right of self-defense against the deadly and illegal use of police force. Your state courts and police honor the precedent set in Bad Elk v. U.S. (civilian right of self-defense against police using deadly force without a warrant or probable cause). [Notes: This precedent needs to be upheld by the supreme courts of AK, HI, WA, OR, CA, NV, ID, UT, AZ, MT, CO, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, MN, IA, MO, AR, WI, IL, KY, TN, OH, FL, DC, DE, NJ, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, and ME. A campaign to urge governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Gavin Newsom of California, Greg Abbott of Texas, Ron deSantis of Florida, and Mike deWine of Ohio - and Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser, would do the most to protect the largest African-American populations by state, from unlawful use of police force.]
Call your state senator or state assemblyperson to demand that they:
32. Author legislation
which would bring parole and parole boards back to your state. [Note:
OR, CA, AZ, KS, IL, MS, IN, OH, NC, DE, and ME have no parole boards; parole
boards need development (or it’s unclear whether there are parole boards) in
HI, WA, MT, CO, NM, ND, SD, MN, IA, MO, LA, MI, WV, VA, FL, NY, MD, DC, VT, and
MA; and AK, NV, ID, UT, WY, NE, OK, TX, AR, WI, KY, TN, AL, GA, PA, SC, NJ, CT,
NH, and RI have active parole boards.]
33. Author legislation which would replace "beat cops" with "peace officers".
34. Consider the eight "Eight Can't Wait" measures recommended by Campaign Zero. These are I) banning chokeholds and strangleholds; II) requiring de-escalation; III) requiring warning before shooting; IV) requiring officers to exhaust all alternatives before shooting; V) charging officers witnessing abuse with a duty to intervene; VI) banning shooting at moving vehicles; VII) establishing a a use of force continuum; and VIII) requiring that all force be reported.
35. Sponsor statutes requiring police to undergo training demanding that they adhere to a strict continuum and rules of engagement regarding justifiable use of police force. First, police should locate the person who called the police and make sure they are safe. Second, the officer should attempt de-escalation. Third, the officer should resort to potentially deadly tasing and macing and pepper-spraying, but only as a "last resort". Firing no more than one or two bullets at a time as a “last last resort” should only be implemented in policing districts where community policing boards enthusiastically want them; while all other communities should consider allowing all or most police officers to have only pepper spray, mace, tasers (all of which can be deadly if used on the wrong person) and work without guns. Additionally - although we should always remember that using a gun is always "shooting to kill" - some "shoot not to kill" (or "shoot to wound") measures should be considered. Officers should be taught that shooting in the legs or arms could cause a suspect to bleed out, and that shooting to graze the shoulder or the surface of the stomach is less likely to cause a mortal injury.
36. Sponsor statutes requiring police training to include testing that reminds them that some of the people they will encounter are sick, old, feeble, autistic, handicapped, or of limited mobility, or may be wearing headphones, or may be otherwise unable to hear and comply with officers’ commands.
37. Sponsor statutes requiring police to wear cameras that face the officer as well as the suspect, which cannot be switched off by officers until their end of their shift
38. Help legalize the filming and recording of police officers, through repealing two-party consent laws and replacing them with one-party consent laws. Thirty-five states have one-party consent laws, while five are solid two-party consent states, and ten have a mix. States should consider 1) not requiring consent from any civilian, for recording, when there is no reason to expect privacy, 2) not requiring consent from officers to be recorded, and only requiring consent from one civilian and notification of the officer, in order to use the film in court, whether there is no reason to expect privacy or not, and 3) notification of a civilian that they‘re being recorded when or where there is a reason to expect privacy.
39. Sponsor laws, on policing and health and insurance, that protect suspects’ rights to refuse to submit to forced blood draws, and nurses’ rights to refuse to draw blood from unconscious patients.
40. Sponsor legislation ending qualified immunity in your state (needed in all states but CO & NM).
41. Sponsor statutes prohibiting the police from “having sex with” (raping) people in custody. [Note: These laws are needed in NV, ID, MT, WY, CO, NM, SD, NE, KS, TX, MN, IA, MO, AR, LA, WI, IL, MS, KY, TN, AL, MI, WV, VA, SC, NY, PA, MD, DC, DE, VT, NH, MA, RI, and ME]
42. Sponsor “Ban the Box” -type legislation at the state level, so people who have paid their debt to society can get jobs without disclosing their previous status, and rejoin society in productivity and financial independence. [Note: AK, NV, ID, UT, AZ, MT, WY, ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, IA, MO, AR, LA, WI, MS, MI, IN, KY, TN, AL, OH, GA, FL, WV, SC, NY, PA, VA, NC, MD, DE, CT, NH, and ME currently lack Ban the Box laws.]
43. Will inform voters that the 15th Amendment protects the right to vote regardless of previous condition of servitude (which includes involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime; i.e., modern-day slavery in prisons) and regardless of whether one lacks identification or an address (due to the prohibition on poll taxes), and that 14th Amendment incorporation requires the states to follow suit. [Note: AK, HI, WA, ID, UT, AZ, MT, WY, CO, NM, ND, SD, OK, MA, and DC may still not have adopted the 15th Amendment].
44. Will support efforts to allow ex-offenders who have served their sentences, to vote. [Note: AK, HI, OR, ID, UT, MT, CO, NM, ND, KS, OK, TX, MN, MO, AR, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH, GA, SC, WV, DC, PA, NJ, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, and ME currently allow people to resume voting, automatically or through applying to vote, upon release. WA, CA, AZ, WY, SD, NE, IA, LA, MS, KY, TN, AL, VA, NC, FL, MD, DE, NY either ban voting by ex-offenders, or else require governors‘ pardons, waiting, and/or the paying of fines or fees, in order to vote.]
45. Support reforms to policing which follow Campaign Zero’s 10 recommendations (end broken windows policing, community oversight, limit use of force, independently investigate and prosecute, community representation, body cameras, training, ending for-profit policing, demilitarization, and fair police union contracts).
46. Support the repeal of laws which needlessly and irresponsibly criminalize homelessness (such as laws against camping, panhandling, hitchhiking, fishing, owning too many possessions, public inebriation, etc.)
47. Support the repeal of unnecessary limitations on access to libraries, parks, beaches, and food pantries on account of a person’s zip code.
48. Look to the coercive control laws of Ireland as a model on which to build state statutes protecting domestic abuse victims from having their finances and other important decisions controlled by abusers.
Created on April 28th and 30th, 2021
Originally Published on April 30th, 2021
under the title "Forty-Three Badly Needed Reforms to Policing, Drugs, and War
That Could Save America From a Second Trump Term"
Edited and Expanded on May 3rd, 4th, and 8th 2021
Originally Published on April 30th, 2021
under the title "Forty-Three Badly Needed Reforms to Policing, Drugs, and War
That Could Save America From a Second Trump Term"
Edited and Expanded on May 3rd, 4th, and 8th 2021
