Responding to an ACLU activist while campaigning in South Carolina on Sunday, White House hopeful Joe Biden promised to cut the U.S. incarceration rate by more than 50 percent if elected president in 2020.
“The ACLU has a roadmap for cutting incarceration by 50 percent through reforms that have been endorsed by the right and the left, including four other presidential candidates and many conservatives,” the activist said to Biden, in a video made public by ACLU. “Do you commit to cutting incarceration by 50 percent if elected?”
“I’ll go further than that,” Biden said. “Let me show you my plan. We can do it more than that.” Pressed for a yes or no answer, the former vice president answered, “Yeah, the answer is yes. But I’ve got a better plan than you guys have.”