THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408270196
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
Battered spouses, police departments and some nonviolent drug offenders are among the expected beneficiaries in a $30 billion measure touted by supporters as the ``smartest, toughest'' crime bill in America's history.
But not immediately clear was the question of who would rake in any political gain from the bill.
A bipartisan effort was needed to get the bill through the House Sunday and the Senate 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 approached doom before it got past procedural blocks erected by Republicans.
Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, a Democrat, told Clinton during the conference call that he was in agony during the ``two harrowing votes,'' adding, ``I can't imagine what you were feeling.''
``Just another day in paradise here,'' Clinton replied with a laugh.
Clinton used the occasion to sign a separate bill providing money to train and hire 15,000 police around the country over the next year.
Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association, which lobbied hard against the bill because of its ban on assault-style firearms, pledged 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.''
Some key features of the bill are its authorization of funds to help put 100,000 new police on the street, imposition of life terms on some third-time violent or drug felons, and an extension of the death penalty to 60 additional federal crimes.
Supporters of the package argued that Americans in general 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 are likely to include police departments beefed up with subsidized members, states needing more prison space to keep violent predators off the streets and youngsters kept out of harm's way through new crime-prevention programs.
Losers include gun makers and dealers, career criminals who may wind up facing life sentences for a third felony and wrongdoers more likely to be caught with tens of thousands of new police on the beat.
One of the bill's largest crime-prevention programs is $1.6 billion for the Violence Against Women Act. The proposal enjoyed wide bipartisan support, even among Senate Republicans who wanted to cut $5 billion in other crime-prevention programs from the bill.
Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, praised the act 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 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 cases. ILLUSTRATION: WINNERS AND LOSERS
THE LOSERS INCLUDE:
Manufacturers, dealers and buyers of assault-style firearms.
After President Clinton signs the bill, manufacturers can ship their
inventories to gun dealers and the dealers may still sell those
guns. But when the inventory is depleted, sales must stop for 10
years.
Criminals who, because of prison crowding, have gotten probation
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 from prison.
Rape 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.
THE WINNERS INCLUDE:
Police departments getting subsidies to hire up to 100,000 new
officers through a matching grant program. The officers are to get
involved in community policing, in which they get to know their
neighborhoods so they can prevent crime as well as apprehend
criminals.
Fifteen high-crime inner cities sharing in $895million for
intensive community services, serving as models for new
crime-prevention programs.
At-risk youths and others who participate in numerous
school-based and other crime-prevention efforts, such as jobs
programs, midnight sports and boys' clubs and girls' clubs.
Local governments sharing in $1.6 billion in Local Partnership
Act grants aimed toward areas with high unemployment and poverty.
The communities would be encouraged to use the money for job
training, education and drug treatment.
First-time, nonviolent drug offenders convicted in federal court
who may serve less than the mandatory minimum 5-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.
States incarcerating illegal aliens who committed crimes; those
states will get $1.8 billion in reimbursements.
Drug-addicted defendants accused of state drug offenses. Some
will be diverted into treatment programs through drug courts. The
bill also authorizes $383 million for drug treatment of state and
federal prisoners.
KEYWORDS: U.S. CONGRESS CRIME BILL
by CNB