The crux of Biden's 1993 argument: It doesn't matter if minority criminals were "deprived as a youth," or had a "background that enabled them to become socialized into the fabric of society," or whether they're the "victims of society," they need to be taken off the streets.
"The end result is, they're about to knock my mother on the head with a lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat up my wife, take on my sons,"
So I don't wanna ask what made them do this. They must be taken off the street, that's number one. There's a consensus on that.
Unless we do something about the cadre of young people - tens of thousands of them - born out of wedlock without parents, without supervision, without any structure, without any conscience developing because they literally have not been socialized. They literally have not had an opportunity. We should focus on them now.
If we don't, they will. Or a portion of them will become the predators 15 years from now.... we have predators on our streets that society has in fact in part, because of this neglect, created them. Again, it does not mean that because we created them, that we somehow forgive them or do not take them out of society to protect my family and yours from them.
They are beyond the pale, many of those people. Beyond the pale. And it's a sad commentary on society. We have no choice but to take them out of society. And the truth is, we don't very well know how to rehabilitate them at that point. That's the sad truth."
We must make the streets safer. I don't care why someone is a malefactor of society. I don't care why someone is antisocial. I don't care why they become a sociopath. We have an obligation to cordon them off from the rest of society, try to help them, try to change the behavior - that's what we do in this bill.
They are in jail. Away from my mother, your husband, our families. But we would be absolutely stupid as a society if we didn't recognize the condition that nurtures those folks still exists, and we must deal with that."