A 1994 federal crime bill passed by former President Bill Clinton has become a problem for Hillary Clinton's campaign. But what did it actually do? The crime bill in question is the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, an enormous $30bn (£21bn) package that was the largest crime-control bill in US history. Critics say the bill decimated communities of colour and accelerated mass incarceration. Proponents say it contributed to the precipitous decline in violent crime in the US that began in the mid-1990s. So who is right? 1. What was the 1994 Crime Bill? The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was a lengthy crime control bill that was put together over the course of six years. Its provisions implemented many things, including a "three strikes" mandatory life sentence for repeat offenders, money to hire 100,000 new police officers, $9.7bn in funding for prisons, and an expansion of death penalty-eligible offences. It also dedicated $6.1bn to prevention programmes "designed with significant input from experienced police officers", however, the bulk of the funds were dedicated to measures that are seen as punitive rather than rehabilitative or preventative. Then-President Clinton signed the bill with the support of First Lady Hillary Clinton. Image copyright Getty Images 2. Why was it passed and who supported it? At the time, violent crime was seen as out of control in the US. Starting in 1987, the homicide rate in the US was increasing by 5% each year, peaking in 1991 with 9.8 deaths per every 100,000 people. Many of those victims were young African Americans. Robbery and assault rates had exploded beginning in the late 1960s, and the crack cocaine epidemic was devastating the nation's urban centres. The bill had bipartisan support, and easily passed both the House and Senate. The Clintons have pointed out that both black politicians and community leaders backed the law, and in general supported increased law enforcement in order to help quell street violence destroying communities. But a recent New York Times op-ed calls this a "selective hearing" of what African American leaders were asking for and points out that members of the Congressional Black Caucus asked for provisions in the bill that were left out. "Policy makers pointed to black support for greater punishment and surveillance, without recognizing accompanying demands to redirect power and economic resources to low-income minority communities," according to the piece, written by three Ivy League professors of history and African American studies. "When blacks ask for better policing, legislators tend to hear more instead." 3. Did it cause mass incarceration? No. But many believe that it may have amplified effects that were already under way. Historians point out that there had already been decades worth of punitive crime control laws that ramped up the rate of incarceration in the US, including the Ronald Reagan Anti-Drug Abuse Acts which established mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession, or Lyndon Johnson's Safe Streets Act of 1968, which increased the flow of federal money to local and state police. Many pieces of punitive crime legislation pre-dated the 1994 bill, on the federal, state and local levels. The prison population had tripled in the two decades that preceded the act. "The feds are very much a reactor in criminal law, not a creator. Much of this was already well under way," says John Pfaff, professor of law at Fordham University, who argues the actions of local prosecutors are a better starting point when tracing the roots of mass incarceration.

• published: 18 Apr 2016
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