NCJ Number
158077
Journal
University of Dayton Law Review Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1995) Pages: 557-808
Editor(s)
R W Pritchard
Date Published
1995
Length
252 pages
Annotation
Seventeen articles focus on various issues addressed in the provisions of and debate on the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Crime Bill).
Abstract
One introductory article examines the history and background of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and another introductory article provides the text of President Clinton's remarks upon signing the 1994 Crime Bill. Of the three articles on the assault weapons ban in the Crime Bill, two articles support it and one opposes it. The two supporters believe that the ban will help reduce the number of deaths caused by dangerous individuals who would use rapid-fire weapons with a capacity to fire many rounds without reloading. The opponent of the ban argues that such guns are rarely used in crimes and that the definition of "assault weapons" is ill-informed and overly broad. Of the two articles on the Racial Justice Act, which was eliminated from the final Crime Bill, one supports and the other opposes it. The act would have allowed defendants in capital cases to challenge the state's right to impose the death penalty based upon statistical analyses that show racial discrimination in similar cases in the jurisdiction. Pro-and-con articles are also presented on the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" provision, which would provide life imprisonment for offenders who have been convicted of three felonies. Of the three articles on the social spending and crime prevention programs of the Crime Bill, two support the provisions as providing effective preventive intervention, and one opposes the provisions as being expensive and ineffective social welfare spending. One article identifies problems and proposes recommendations for the proposed Evidence Rules 413-415, which pertain to "predisposition" evidence in sexual assault and child molestation cases. Of the two articles on the sentencing provisions of the Crime Bill, one supports the "safety valve" provision that would allow judges to exempt first- time drug offenders from mandatory minimum sentences, and the other supports truth-in-sentencing as a means of ensuring that violent offenders spend at least 85 percent of their sentence lengths in prison. The two articles on prison-related provisions of the Crime Bill discuss the issues of regional prisons, the nature of Federal grants, and the crime prevention alternatives to an emphasis on imprisonment as the answer to crime. For individual articles, see NCJ-158078-92.