Joe Biden in CNN Kfile
On Crime:
1993: Don't care why "predators" act; put them in jail
Joe Biden in a 1993 speech warned of "predators on our streets" who were "beyond the pale" and said they must be cordoned off from the rest of society because the justice system did not know how to rehabilitate them. Biden, chair of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments on the Senate floor a day before a vote was scheduled on the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.
Biden said he did not care what led someone to commit crimes. "I don't care why someone is a malefactor in society. I don't care why someone is antisocial. I don't care why they've become a sociopath," Biden said. "We have an obligation to cordon them
off from the rest of society, try to help them, try to change the behavior. That's what we do in this bill. We have drug treatment and we have other treatments to try to deal with it, but they are in jail."
Source: CNN KFile, "Predators," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 7, 2019
On Crime:
1994 Crime Bill got help for first time offenders, not jail
A spokesman for Biden said high violent crime rates at the time was key context to understanding the bill, adding that the 1994 crime bill included funding "to keep individuals who committed first-time offenses and non-violent crimes out of prison and
instead in treatment and supervision," and that Biden advocated for prevention funding. Two provisions of the bill that led to Biden's strong support of its passage: bans on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons and the Violence Against Women Act.
Source: CNN KFile, "Predators," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 7, 2019
On Drugs:
Harsh sentences for crack were a mistake; worked to rectify
Biden said, "I haven't always been right. I know we haven't always gotten things right, but I've always tried." He highlighted his later work with Pres. Obama to address the sentencing disparity for crack versus powder cocaine, saying, "It was a big
mistake when it was made," he said at the MLK breakfast. "We thought, we were told by the experts, that crack you never go back, it was somehow fundamentally different. It's not different. But it's trapped an entire generation."
Source: CNN KFile, "Predators," on 2020 Democratic primary
Mar 7, 2019
On War & Peace:
FactCheck:No, didn't oppose Iraq War right after war started
In recent interviews defending his past foreign policy decisions, Biden has misrepresented his past position on the Iraq War. In explaining his 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq, Biden told NPR this week that, "Immediately, that moment it
started, I came out against the war at that moment."But a review of Biden's public statements about Iraq in the lead up to the invasion shows he was never entirely opposed to military action against Saddam Hussein:
- "Nine months ago, I voted to
use force and I would vote that way again today," Biden said in a July 2003 speech at the Brookings Institution.
- In early January 2003, ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council, Biden said war with Iraq
appeared near inevitable.
- In a speech to the New Castle Chamber of Commerce in February 2003, Biden said. "I supported the resolution to go to war. I am not opposed to war to remove weapons of mass destruction from Iraq."
Source: CNN K-File FactCheck on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Sep 4, 2019
Page last updated: Oct 31, 2024