Nader's Harsh Words for Biden on Criminal Justice

by Adrienne Gathman and Jessica Eufers

Ralphs Nader’s statement released August 13 had some strong words in reaction to Barack Obama’s choice for vice president Joe Biden. Nader claimed Bien was “highly regressive on criminal justice issues.” It was said that Biden could also be “credited with the world record U.S. prison population.”

Nader’s statement made many jabs at Joe Biden, but a particularly unforgiving segment claimed:

“Biden is highly regressive on criminal justice issues. He was the architect of the modern drug war (i.e., the Anti-Drug Abuse of 1986) including mandatory minimum sentencing that can be credited with the world record U.S. prison population.”

How much truth is there in Nader’s comments?

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 is a bill that set out to strengthen Federal efforts to encourage foreign cooperation in eliminating illegal drug crops and bringing an end to international drug traffic, improve the enforcement of Federal drug laws, provide strong Federal leadership in establishing effective drug abuse prevention and education programs. Although Nader is correct regarding Biden’s part in the act,
Biden clearly admits to his part. However, Nader neglects to mention that Biden has released statements asking for elimination of certain parts of the bill. The Vice Presidential nominee also states that with the information the legislature had in 1986 regarding crack this bill made a lot of sense, but since that time, the information has been proven false and not reliable.

Biden is open on his Senate website about his part in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. However, Obama’s presidential website makes no mention of Biden’s part in the Act in its issues section regarding the crack and cocaine disparity. It instead makes remarks that both Obama and Biden will fight to repeal the mandatory minimum sentence and feel it is wrong. Biden has since called for the passing of the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act which would eliminate the disparity between crack and cocaine, repeal the mandatory minimum sentence, and improve drug treatment for offenders. Said bill has not been passed, but it is co-sponsored by Obama and past presidential candidates John Kerry, Chris Dodd, and Hillary Clinton.

The other part of the statement that is questionable is the claim that the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 can be “credited with the world record U.S. prison population.” It is true that the United States has the world’s largest prison population and currently has the largest it ever has been. It is also said that the drug policies have had the single greatest impact on criminal justice policy, but there is no possible way to determine for sure that it is the only cause for the huge prison population.

Lesson: All of the claims made in this part of the statement are true, but have a bit of a twist to them. It is true Biden was a major part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, but Nader failed to mention that Biden himself has said the act is faulty. It is also true that the United States has the greatest prison population it ever has, and it can be partly attributed to the changes in drug policy. However, it is one of many causes.