Statement of Administration Policy: S. 1607 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1993

(SENT 11/4/93)
(Senate)
(Biden (D) Delaware)

The Administration strongly supports S. 1607.

S. 1607 represents an important first step in putting more police on the streets, taking guns out of the hands of criminals, and ensuring that all criminals are punished for their crimes. It authorizes new and innovative crime control and prevention programs as part of a comprehensive strategy to address the problems of crime, drugs, and violence in our society.

Specifically, the Administration strongly supports the following in S. 1607:

• Assistance for States and localities to increase police presence and expand community policing. Putting more police on the streets working with community residents to reduce and prevent crime is an integral part of the Administration's anti-crime and anti-drug efforts — and must be included in comprehensive crime legislation.
  
  
• Assistance to States to expand the use of boot camps for non-violent offenders and promote "certainty of punishment" for young offenders. Too often, the lack of prison space or juvenile detention facilities forces a choice between prison and no punishment at all. Boot camps and other innovative means of punishment must be used to promote swift and certain punishment when an offender first encounters the criminal justice system, not after it is too late.
  
  
• Expanded use of "Drug Courts." Successful drug court programs utilize drug testing and the various components of the criminal justice system — enforcement, prosecution, adjudication, and corrections, including probation, parole, and innovative programs such as boot camps — to promote drug treatment. Without such programs, more hard-core drug users would be on our streets or taking up valuable space in our prisons that should be reserved for violent offenders. The Administration is committed to focusing on hard-core drug use, and drug courts are an important step in addressing this problem.
  
  
• Provisions which ensure tough penalties for violent and gun-related crimes and which expand the Federal death penalty to include 47 new crimes.
  
  
• Title III, which limits inmates to filing a single, Federal habeas corpus appeal within a six-month time limit and assures that indigent capital defendants are represented by qualified counsel who meet specific, rigorous experience and qualification standards. The Administration strongly supports these tough, but fair, death penalty provisions.

Pay-As-You-Go Scoring

S. 1607 would increase receipts; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirements of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, (OBRA) of 1990. OMB's preliminary scoring estimates of this bill are presented below. Final scoring of this legislation may deviate from these estimates.

PAY-AS-YOU-GO ESTIMATES
(receipts in millions)