It looks like Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West will have a much larger impact on the November election than most would have guessed. But this isn’t about West’s long-shot presidential campaign — it’s about a bill Kardashian helped pass two years ago.
The First Step Act was a “first step” criminal justice reform bill. It was derived from the Prison Reform and Redemption Act, a bill aimed at improving conditions in federal prisons. Much to the dismay of civil rights groups, the First Step Act didn’t include any meaningful sentence reducing components. Because of this, over 100 groups advocating for criminal justice reform opposed it. The bare-bones nature of the bill is exactly why Republicans felt comfortable passing the bill.
In its final iteration, the First Step Act was backed by all democrats in the house with very little Republican opposition. The bill even had the support of President Donald Trump who encouraged Republicans to vote yes on passing the bill. It was Trump’s words of encouragement that led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, someone who has always adamantly opposed criminal justice reform, to put the bill up for a vote in the first place. Trump signed the First Step Act into law on December 21, 2018.
Without the help of Kardashian, the First Step Act may have never made it to a vote on the Senate floor. Kardashian’s connection draws back to one of her first widely publicized investments into criminal justice reform. It all started when she heard the story of Alice Johnson, a woman serving life in prison for possessing a small amount of crack. Kardashian called Ivanka Trump hoping Ivanka would sympathize with Alice’s story. Ivanka connected Kim to her husband, Jared Kushner, the White House Innovations Director. At the time, Kushner was already advocating for criminal justice reform. Because his father served time in federal prison for tax evasion, illegal witness tampering, and illegal campaign contributions, Jared felt a sense of responsibility to help reform the system.
After some initial roadblocks, Kushner helped Kardashian score a meeting with Donald to plead Johnson’s case. As president, Donald has the power to pardon federal prisoners without any outside hassles. Kardashian was successful and Donald commuted Johnson's sentence a few days later.
The meeting was a chance for Kushner to push the president towards more prison reforms. One of Donald’s main concerns was the story of Willie Horton, a man who was convicted of armed robbery and rape while on a weekend release from prison in the 1980s. Johnson, a mother and grandmother, served as the antithesis to Horton, and advisors used her example to push Donald to soften his stance on criminal justice reform. With his concerns abated, Donald had no problem encouraging Republican lawmakers to pass the First Step Act.
Kardashian’s star power certainly played a role in scoring a meeting with Trump. Before setting his sights on the White House, Donald was well known for his reality show, Art of the Deal. Donald was also known for demanding he be featured in any films shot at the various properties he owned (for example, watch Home Alone Two). The chance to appear on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and pose with Kim, one of the biggest reality stars in the world, would not be an opportunity Donald would pass up.
Now you may be wondering, ‘in what way does this small piece of legislation connect to Donald’s presidential campaign opponents?’ The answer lies in how difficult it has been in the past to make any steps towards prison reform.
The First Step Act wasn’t the first time lawmakers tried to pass legislation to reform the criminal justice system. Two bills were introduced during the Obama administration but never made it to the Oval Office. Largely because many republicans (McConnell specifically) vehemently oppose criminal justice reform despite the system’s many flaws. In a deeply partisan, republican majority senate, there is no chance policies widely backed by democrats would make it to the Oval Office of a Democratic president. For the First Step Act to be passed through a republican controlled senate and signed by an infamously “tough on crime” president is nothing short of a miracle.
Many voters, Black voters specifically, would want this progress to continue going forward, and a Biden Harris ticket isn’t promising for supporters of criminal justice reform. The bill responsible for skyrocketing prison populations into the millions— The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act— was written by Biden under the Clinton administration. The law encouraged tougher federal prison sentences, provided states with funding to build more prisons, funded 100,000 more cops, and supported grants for officers to carry out more drug-related arrests. These provisions disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities as policing, arrests, and indefinite prison sentences increased dramatically. Biden still stands behind this bill because of provisions it included to protect victims of domestic violence and fund background checks.
At the time, Democrats wanted to counter attacks from Republicans claiming they were “soft on crime.” But now, left-leaning voters want the opposite. The United States has the highest number of incarcerated persons in the world, largely because the criminal justice system and the nation as a whole is structured so released individuals will eventually end up back in prison. This is because many companies profit off of how many people are incarcerated and how many prisons are built. Many moderate and left-leaning individuals want the system to become more reform-based, and less profit-driven. A Biden Harris ticket may not make this a priority. Harris was a prosecutor and district attorney before becoming a senator and Biden may be wary to enact certain reforms considering his legislative history.
Donald could tout Biden and Harris’ history as a reason not to vote for the Democratic ticket come November. The sitting president may claim republicans will be more likely to accomplish criminal justice reform because they passed the First Step Act, even though the bill won’t make any concrete reforms to the criminal justice system— which is the entire reason why Republicans were willing to pass it in the first place. But as we all know, for many politicians, campaigns are about sounding good and convincing voters rather than making truthful promises.
Source: Brennancenter.org
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