More than 100 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials have called on President Joe Biden to pass criminal justice reform. The group sent a letter to Biden on Tuesday in a plea for a task force on 21st-century prosecution by the end of 2021, according to the Associated Press.

The letter marks the latest call for Biden and the Justice Department to fulfill Biden's biggest campaign promises. The goal is to implement overhauls from policing to prison.

The group wants Biden to take a broader look at prosecutorial policies with its recommended task force. The group is also asking the task force to come up with an implementation plan for its recommendations including an oversight group, and a way to incentivize local prosecutors to enact the recommended reforms through grants and federal policy changes.

“For a President who has very much expressed support for reforming the criminal justice system and rethinking the type of tough on crime policies of the ‘80s and ’90s, this is an opportunity to ride the wave of local innovation and pierce the black box of the local prosecutor’s office, to take eh best of what is happening locally and implement it around the country,” Miriam Aroni Krinsky, founder and executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, told the AP.

Biden’s criminal justice plan is broad in scope.

  • End cash bail. Many view it as a form of criminalizing poverty because it disproportionately affects low-income people and people of color due to their often over-policed communities. In January 2017, the Pretrial Justice Institute cited how taxpayers are on the hook for about $38 million per day to jail those who are awaiting trial.
  • Abolish the death penalty. Biden wants to end the death penalty at the federal level and incentivize states to do the same, with the worst offenders receiving life in prison without probation or parole. The death penalty can be costly for taxpayers, according to studies.
  • End all incarceration for drug use. This would require federal courts to divert offenders with pending drug charges to be taken to drug court to receive treatment for their addictions.
  • Decriminalize cannabis and expunge convicts' records. Prisons have faced overcrowding for minor offenses. Biden supports legalizing cannabis for medical use but will leave recreational use up to the individual states.
  • Stop corporations from profiting off incarceration. Biden wants to end the federal government’s use of private prisons. Biden will also work to eliminate profiteering methods such as diversion programs, commercial bail, and electronic monitoring.
  • Eliminate mandatory minimums. Mandatory minimums require judges to sentence felons for a given amount of time. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act requires a minimum sentence of five years for drug offenses involving crack, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. Biden wants to repeal mandatory minimums at the federal level and will incentivize states to do the same.
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