Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408290040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
But it was not immediately clear who would rake in any political gain from the bill.
A bipartisan effort got the bill through the House on Sunday and the Senate on Thursday night, and it was a bipartisan group of mayors President Clinton called Friday to thank for their lobbying efforts.
In both houses, the bill neared doom before it got past procedural blocks erected by Republicans.
Clinton used the occasion to sign a separate bill providing money to train and hire 15,000 police nationwide over the next year.
Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association, which lobbied hard against the crime bill because of its ban on assault-style firearms, vowed to take its revenge at the polls.
The NRA's chief lobbyist, Tanya Metaksa, said, ``The NRA's 3.4 million members will now turn to the ballot box in November to send a message to members of the U.S. Congress which they cannot ignore.''
The bill authorizes funds to help put 100,000 new police on the street, imposes life terms on some third-time violent or drug felons and extends the death penalty to 60 additional federal crimes.
Supporters of the package said the American people as a whole will benefit from a bill that authorizes $13.5 billion for law enforcement, $9.9 billion for prisons and $6.9 billion for crime prevention and drug courts.
But the more direct beneficiaries likely are police departments getting subsidized officers, states needing prison space to keep violent predators off the streets and youngsters kept out of harm's way through new crime-prevention programs.
One of the bill's largest crime-prevention programs is $1.6 billion for the Violence Against Women Act. It enjoyed wide bipartisan support even among Senate Republicans, who wanted to cut $5 billion from other crime-prevention programs in the bill.
Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, praised it Friday because it ``recognizes, for the first time ever, that gender-based violence is a violation of women's civil rights.''
Key provisions that could affect women nationwide include the right to sue an abuser in federal court; new shelters for battered women; training of police, prosecutors and judges to improve their handling of domestic-abuse cases; federal penalties for spouse abusers who cross state lines to commit such violence; and requirements that all states enforce each other's ``stay away'' orders.
Some drug offenders also will benefit from the bill. First-time, nonviolent drug offenders convicted in federal court may serve less than the mandatory minimum five-year terms if they were not leaders or organizers, did not have a gun or use force or threats of force, no one was injured and they cooperate with authorities.
Some drug-addicted defendants accused of state drug offenses will be diverted into treatment programs through drug courts. The bill authorizes $383 million for drug treatment of state and federal prisoners.
The bill's losers include:
nManufacturers, dealers and buyers of assault-style firearms. Once Clinton signs the bill, manufacturers can ship their inventory to gun dealers and the dealers still can sell those guns. But when the inventory is depleted, sales must stop for 10 years.
Criminals who, because of prison overcrowding, have gotten probation instead of prison terms or who have been paroled early. The bill authorizes funds to pay for 125,000 new state and local prison cells.
Sexual predators and those who prey on children. They must register with state law enforcement agencies and police may notify communities when they are released.
Rape trial defendants. Testing of defendants for the AIDS virus is required if requested by the victim, and evidence of prior sex offenses - even those for which charges were never brought - may be introduced.
Prisoners getting college educations with Pell grants, which will be banned.
by CNB