Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed into law by President Clinton on 13 September 1994 (Idleson, 1995, pp. 367-369). There was opposition to the bill in the Congress (Masci, 1994, pp. 2488-2492. The source of most of this opposition, however, was Republican legislators who would vote against a resolution praising God if such a resolution were offered by President Clinton or indeed by any Democrat. The game of political insanity being played by congressional Republicans, however, does not mean that serious and thoughtful opposition does not or should not exist in relation to various provisions of the crime bill or to the omission from that bill of various proposals dealing with crime.

The battle over the crime bill in 1994 was between the executive branch of government (the presidency) and the legislative branch of government (the congress), although the congress was not unified in its opposition to the president. Within the congress, both opposition and support to the president's proposals were present in both the Democratic and Republican caucuses, although the president, as was to be expected, enjoyed greater support and less opposition among congressional Democrats than among Republicans in the legislative arena. The concept of shared powers was not the central issue in the battle over the crime bill. There were major differences of substance in relation to crime prevention strategies, gun co

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s (Idleson, 1994, pp. 2137-2140). Proponents contend that the only minority persons that will be affected are those who commit a violent crime. Opponents also charge that the potential for a life sentence will cause perpetrators to kill their victims to prevent testimony against them. Proponents contend that the law will remove violent offenders from the streets permanently. The list of federal capital offenses was expanded in the crime bill of 1994. Arguments for and against the death penalty are well known to every rational adult American who is not mentally defective. Neither side is likely to be persuaded by the arguments of the other. The sales of new weapons described by a list of 19 different types of assault weapons were prohibited by the crime bill of 1994. Proponents point to the numbers of violent crimes in which assault weapons are used. Opponents repeat the tired and spurious arguments of the National Rifle Association. The new law does not prohibit the resale of the 19 different types of assault weapons already in the hands of the general public. Thus, the prohibition against assault weapons is not what some people may believe it to be. The bill provides for reduced sentencestwo yearsfor some firstti
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Approximate Word count = 2236
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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