Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9408010029
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Members of Congress of both parties know perfectly well that prevention and punishment of crime - at least of street crime, the kind that makes law-abiding voters fearful - rests almost exclusively with localities and states. That doesn't stop lawmakers from making a federal case out of the problem - it does strike such a responsive chord with the electorate, after all. The resulting federal measures will be most effective, though, where they are aimed at helping localities make their own streets safe.
The $33.2 billion legislation produced by House and Senate conferees Thursday does offer some such help. It authorizes 100,000 new police officers for community policing, a law-enforcement technique (emphasizing partnership with law-abiding citizens) that has proved successful, for example, in those neighborhoods where it is in place in Roanoke. This is only seed money, of course. The federal grants that will make this possible will be reduced gradually over five years, leaving states and localities to decide if community policing is worth the investment.
It is appropriate for the federal government to encourage experimentation and innovation, without permanently subsidizing what must be local law-enforcement efforts.
Money for new prisons, likewise, should give some help to states adopting tougher penalties for crime. Some of the nation's governors have balked at the provision of federal money to build facilities that the states ultimately will have to pay to operate. But the Allen administration in Virginia already has made it clear it intends to build lots more prison space. This part of the bill may help lessen the impact on the state budget, but taxpayers will be footing the bill, either way.
The only way to lessen this expense, long range, is to intervene in the lives of children most at risk of developing antisocial behavior. Some foes of the crime bill would rather support prison inmates for life than spend one thin dime on crime-prevention programs for youth. But this component can be a plus - providing it is administered with care.
Conservatives can hardly be criticized for viewing that prospect skeptically. Again, it is best to manage such efforts at the state and local level. The initiative to undertake them, however, must be there as well.
One positive is the legislation's proposed ban on 19 types of assault-style firearms, plus copycat versions, and a 10-round limit on magazine capacity. It would be better if the focus were more on magazine capacity than on distinctions among types of weapons, some of which are rather arbitrary.
Other parts of the bill would have been better left on the House-Senate conference room floor. The last thing America needs is 60-some new categories of federal capital crimes. Provisions for execution of drug traffickers unconnected to any specific deaths - and for life imprisonment of third-time drug felons, even if their crimes did not involve violence - are extreme enough to remind us how badly the nation needs to debate its war on drugs. There's been more than enough posturing, of which this crime bill is, in many of its parts, another example.
by CNB