Advocacy groups giving poor first-year grades to Prez Biden on criminal justice reform

This new Law360 piece, headlined "At 1-Year Mark, Groups Discontent With Biden Justice Reform," reports on an interesting effort to "grade" the Biden Administration for its criminal justice record at the end of its first year. I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts:

President Joe Biden's progress on criminal justice reform after nearly one year in office has dissatisfied some advocacy leaders who were once hopeful that the president would prioritize this reform.

During Biden's presidential campaign, he made more than 100 criminal justice reform promises, including to end mandatory minimum prison sentences, stop use of the death penalty and eliminate cash bail. However, the president hasn't fulfilled these reforms or many of his other justice campaign promises, advocates say.

In a recent Law360 poll of 13 organizations, seven organizations gave Biden a grade of "D" or "F" for his policy and legislative actions in his first year, and the majority of respondents reported being "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with his reform progress....

The 13 organizations were mixed about Biden's rhetoric on criminal justice reform. Roughly half of them gave the president a grade of "A" or "B" and the other half gave him a grade of "D" or "F." One organization gave his rhetoric a grade of "C."

But the majority of organizations gave Biden's overall progress on criminal justice reform in his first year a grade of "D" or "F." Three organizations said his overall progress was "above average" or "very good" and two groups said his progress was "average."

In the early days of Biden's administration, the president did take quick action on justice reform by issuing an order phasing out the use of privately operated prisons. Later, he also restored the U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Access to Justice, implemented restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement and opened up access to re-entry services for people who were formerly incarcerated.

After much pleading from criminal justice reform groups, Biden's Justice Department reversed course on a previous decision and said in December that individuals who were released on home confinement because of the COVID-19 pandemic could stay out of prison.

Advocates, however, say that in Biden's first year, the president missed several opportunities to make key reforms including ending unjust prison sentences through the clemency process and dispelling the narrative that justice reforms will lead to more crime....

A spokesperson for the White House did not respond to a request for comment about Biden's progress on criminal justice reform.

According to Law360's poll, the majority of respondents were "hopeful" or "very hopeful" that when Biden first took office, he would prioritize criminal justice reform. However, after Biden's first year in office, only three organizations reported that they were "hopeful" or "very hopeful" the president would prioritize justice reform during the rest of his administration....

Not all advocates have lost hope though. Miriam Krinsky, a poll participant and executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, told Law360 that she remains hopeful because of the people that Biden has appointed to be federal prosecutors, sit on the federal judicial bench and lead the DOJ. "I think [Biden] is taking seriously the need to reset the legal system, and putting people in place in criminal justice positions that are thinking differently," Krinsky said.

A few of many prior recent related posts:

• Two new NPR pieces spotlight frustrations with Biden Administration among criminal justice reform advocates 
• Reviewing Biden Administration's uninspired criminal justice reform efforts 
• Across political spectrum, insightful folks saying in insightful ways that Prez Biden must do better on criminal justice reform
• Highlighting how the Biden Administration could and should start reforming federal BOP