For the magazine Time, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the personalities of the year 2020. The vice-president stands out: she is the first black woman vice-president of the United States. For some, this is enough to make her a potential ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, which calls for reforms in the American police and justice system. But before being chosen by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris held another not insignificant position: prosecutor for San Francisco, then for California. With this past of “Top cop” (“First cop”), will it be the best placed to reform the American judicial structure? Not sure…
Because Kamala Harris began her career at a very different time from today, in the 2000s. At the time, the United States was facing a galloping increase in delinquency and public opinion was in favor of a hard line police, “Tough on crime”. In this context, the one who has always described herself as progressive and rather “Smart on crime”) had to adapt: often progressive, of course, but sometimes much more firm on certain issues.
So what to expect from this expert on the legal system who did not fail to ride the Black Lives Matter wave during Joe Biden’s campaign? The world traces the thread of a career where conviction and opportunism collide.
Sources
Data made public by the Kamala Harris administration (accessible only in the United States):
– https://openjustice.doj.ca.gov
NGO working on American justice:
– https://blacklivesmatter.com/
– https://www.sentencingproject.org/
– https://innocenceproject.org/
– https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
Portraits of black people killed by police since 2014:
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html
On Kamala Harris’ career:
– The Truths We Hold, Kamala Harris, 2019 Penguin Books
– Smart On Crime, Kamala Harris, 2009, Chronicle Books
– https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/099969-000-A/etats-unis-kamala-harris-une-ascension-californienne/
– https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/23/18184192/kamala-harris-president-campaign-criminal-justice-record
– https://theintercept.com/2019/02/07/kamala-harris-san-francisco-district-attorney-crime/
– https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/kamala_harris/412678
Lara Bazelon article in the New York Times:
– https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html
2020 U.S. election result
– https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/11/09/presidentielle-americaine-un-nombre-de-voix-histoire-pour-biden-mais-aussi-pour-trump_6059126_4355770.html
Pictures
– Rowland Scherman – US National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16632881
– Basil D Soufi – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22023379
– Nancy Wong – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72985227
– Torbakhopper – friendly peace protectors: sfpd, mission district, san francisco (2012) Uploaded by Fæ, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22961217
