ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is backing former Vice President Joe Biden's plan that he claims will reduce the prison population and make communities around the nation safer.
The presidential hopeful tweeted a video Tuesday afternoon talking about ways he wants to strengthen the justice system.
"Too many people are incarcerated in the US – and many don’t have resources to successfully rejoin society after serving their time," he tweeted.
As a response, Bottoms tweeted that she is pleased with Biden's plan.
"The vice president's plan to invest in local communities that thoughtfully reduce incarceration rates, eliminating cash bail, and providing substance abuse and mental health services rather than a jail cell, will equip local communities like Atlanta," the mayor said.
Last month, she told the Associated Press she is endorsing the Democrat.
The Associated Press reports that Biden is proposing to reverse several key provisions of the 1994 crime bill he helped write in an acknowledgment that his tough-on-crime positions of the past are at odds with the views of the modern Democratic Party.
Biden's plan builds on Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott's SAFE Justice Act, which would reserve prison space for violent offenders and offer a wider range of non-prison sentencing alternatives.
Biden wants to eliminate the federal death penalty and end criminalization of those who are dealing with poverty by stopping cash bails and jailing people for being too poor to pay fines.
On his website, he also outlines a new $20 billion grant program that he said would shift states from incarceration to prevention.
Those are some of the same efforts Bottoms has been pushing for Atlanta.
In a news conference in May, Bottoms mentioned how they have previously worked to eliminate cash bail bonds. She also signed off on legislation aimed at closing the Atlanta Detention Center. Her office has also created a task force to help with those efforts.
Biden's plans come ahead the next planned Democratic debate. He will share the stage on July 31 with Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and seven other presidential candidates. Ten other Democrats will face off the night before, on July 30.
Read more of Biden's plan on his website. You can also read more about the 1994 crime bill from the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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