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Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994...

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PUBLIC POLICY ASSIGNMENT Alexandra Headley

DR. HOFFMAN Into. To Public Admin and Policy

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Alexandra Headley Public Policy Assignment Dr. Hoffman Public Admin and Policy September 9, 2019 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994: Introduction What is a government? It is the individuals and institutions that are given the right, by the Constitution, to make societal rules and regulations. One of the first things that the government does for a society is maintain a level of law and order within itself (it’s country) by resolving conflict and, ultimately, protecting its citizens. During the 1960’s through the 1980’s the U.S. government was faced with an alarming spike in violent crime that made everyday life for people a living nightmare. The three-decade free fall that spanned the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, had Americans multiplying their homicide rate by more than two and a half, from a low of 4.0 in 1957 to a high of 10.2 in 1980[ CITATION Pin13 \l 1033 ]. The public, for good reason, wanted change. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was established and enacted by President Bill Clinton and was designed to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, H.R. 3355. It is the largest crime bill in the history of the country and provided 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons and $6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs[ CITATION USD94 \l 1033 ]. The Act created the national sex offender registry, as well as having a federal assault weapons ban, mandatory drug testing for inmates, and programs that increased penalties and

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sentences for repeat offenders[ CITATION Win18 \l 1033 ]. Some argue the measure led to a drop-in crime. Like most political compromises, the crime bill did some good and some bad. It contributed to both the crime decline and mass incarceration. First, the good: Though the crime bill was not responsible for the entire drop in crime, it likely helped - not by locking people up, but by putting more cops on the street, studies show. From 1994 to 2000, crime fell an additional 23 percent, with violent crime dropping by almost 30 percent [ CITATION Eis16 \l 1033 ]. Then there's the bad: Although incarceration was already rising steadily before the crime bill, several of its provisions helped increase incarceration even further. The legacy of the Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, better known as the crime bill, has re-emerged in the national debate around criminal justice reform and public safety[ CITATION Chu19 \l 1033 ]. Elected leaders today are attempting to unwind some of the most harmful effects of the crime bill through criminal justice reform measures; The reforms seem to shift away from punishment and more towards preventive care. This however isn’t easy as the American public correlates safety with policing, prosecutors, and prison. As elected leaders reflect on the 1994 bill, it isn’t to say the country is learning from its previous failings, but more or less just trying to prevent new mistakes.

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References Chung, E., Pearl, B., & Hunter , L. (2019, March 26). The 1994 Crime Bill Continues to Undercut Justice Reform—Here’s How to Stop It. Retrieved September 9, 2019, from American Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2019/03/26/467486/1994crime-bill-continues-undercut-justice-reform-heres-stop/ Eisen, L.-B. L., & Chettiar, I. M. (2016, April 16). The Complex History of the Controversial 1994 Crime Bill. (MSNBC) Retrieved September 9, 2019, from Brennan Center for Justice: https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/complex-history-controversial-1994-crime-bill Pinker, S. (2013, July). Decivilization in the 1960s, Volume 2, Issue 2. (M. Publishing, Editor, M. Publishing, Producer, & University of Michigan Library) Retrieved September 9, 2019, from Human Figurations: Long-term Prespectives on the Human Condition: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/humfig/11217607.0002.206/--decivilization-in-the-1960s? rgn=main;view=fulltext U.S. Department of Justice. (1994, October 24). Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Retrieved September 9, 2019, from National Criminal Justice Reference Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/billfs.txt Winterton, D. (2018, June 25). Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Retrieved September 9, 2019, from Legal Match: https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/violentcrime-control-and-law-enforcement-act-of-1994.html...