Harris keeps a tight eye on her crime policy

The United States experienced a temporary wave of violent crime during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to official data, many violent crimes are currently on track to reach historic lows or close to them since the FBI began collecting data. Even though the worst of the post-pandemic crime wave has passed, public concern about crime remains high. A September 2024 Pew poll found that violent crime was fifth on voters' priorities list that year. That means campaigns from both major parties are trying to reassure voters that their policies will solve the problem.

From reformer to hardliner

Vice President Kamala Harris promised to “fundamentally transform the way we approach public safety” as a presidential candidate in the summer and fall of 2019. Harris – then a US senator from California – published a criminal justice reform bill platform In September 2019, he pledged to end mass incarceration, abolish private prisons, abandon the war on drugs and create a new national commission to examine the criminal justice system and recommend reforms. She also sought reform of the juvenile justice system. The proposal promised to “eliminate life sentences for children and offer young people convicted of crimes the opportunity to have their sentences reduced.”