Last edited Thu May 9, 2019, 08:01 AM - Edit history (1)
In comparison, Amy Klobuchar was also a prosecutor in an era of widespread demand for being "tough on crime," and she has not been eager to move on from that period to the degree Harris has, consistent with her more centrist positioning in the midwest.
However, Klobuchar has been solidly behind reforms that make the process more just and protect the innocent. She's worth examining in comparison to Harris as an example of what it is to be a centrist Democrat in the midwest -- as opposed to what today's knuckledragger Republicans tend to espouse.
Vox: For example, she ran on a community prosecution model that put prosecutors in specific neighborhoods so they could build better ties with the community.
Barry Scheck, a co-founder of the Innocence Project, said Klobuchar was also an early ally of the innocence movement, which pushed for the use of DNA testing and other new technologies to get innocent people out of prison. Scheck acknowledged that Klobuchar, like other prosecutors at the time, fit the mold of “tough on crime” in many ways, but she was also uniquely supportive of efforts to improve eyewitness identification and recording police interviews — two crucial causes for the Innocence Project at the time.
“It was very important to us to have prosecutors who would support these two reforms,” he told me. “Amy Klobuchar was a very strong proponent, knew the details, knew how to do it, and even contributed in helping with field experiments and publications.”
Since leaving law enforcement, Klobuchar has taken some steps toward criminal justice reform. She voted for the First Step Act, a widely supported reform measure that President Trump signed into law. She acknowledged on Meet the Press last year “that there is racism in the [criminal justice] system that needs to be fixed.”
Well, yes. Less liberal Klobuchar is not exactly at the forefront of criminal justice reform as more liberal Harris is positioning herself, but both are solid Democrats concerned that justice be real.
Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
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