Biden-Sanders Document Does Not Abolish Police and Prisons

Suzy Woltmann

Politics

18th July 2020

Biden-Sanders Document Does Not Abolish Police and Prisons

Trump made some false claims in his speech (Getty Images).

The Claim

Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders wrote a unity document abolishing police and prisons.

News posted on

Emerging story

On July 14, 2020 U.S. President Trump gave a speech at the White House’s Rose Garden. In the speech, he discusses a policy document supported by Biden campaign representatives and Sanders allies. About the document, Trump said: "We could go on for days. Incentivize prison closure. So they want to close our prisons. They now want to abolish our police departments. They want to abolish our prisons, I guess."

The claim soon went viral on social media platforms.

Misbar’s Analysis

As Misbar has previously reported, Biden has rejected even the idea to “defund the police."

Reviewing the unity document shows that it does support a wide range of criminal justice reform. However, it does not say anything about abolishing or defunding the police. In fact, it contains several sections that discuss the use of police forces in the future. This includes discussion of officer training and appropriate use of force; reinvigoration of community policing efforts; and a focus on increasing diversity in police departments.

Further, the document does not support abolishing prisons. It does support ending private for-profit prisons, however. In private prisons, people are imprisoned by a third party contracted through the government. The third party makes money based on how many people are incarcerated. An excerpt from the document follows:

The document further advocates for the end of mass incarceration for minor, non-violent crimes. However, it does not support abolishing all prisons, and it does not call for the end of police.