(The New York Times)
WASHINGTON — When Joseph R. Biden Jr. became the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987, a few months ahead of his first and ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign, he told aides his goal was to enact legislation that would take a comprehensive approach to reducing crime.
WASHINGTON — When Joseph R. Biden Jr. became the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987, a few months ahead of his first and ultimately unsuccessful presidential campaign, he told aides his goal was to enact legislation that would take a comprehensive approach to reducing crime.
As the ranking minority member of the committee since 1981, Mr. Biden had helped pass two bills establishing mandatory minimums for drug offenses. But as chairman, facing high violent crime rates, a crack cocaine epidemic, and accusations by Republicans that his party was soft on crime, Mr. Biden wanted holistic reform.
The effort, which defined much of his time as committee chairman, culminated in the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, a sweeping, bipartisan bill that touched nearly every aspect of American law enforcement that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
