The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed into law by President Clinton on 13 September 1994. There was opposition to the bill in the Congress. 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.
This research presents an overview of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 with no attempt made to assess the merits and demerits of the overall bill although opposing positions on the various elements of the bill are stated. Included as a part of this research also, however, is an examination of crime prevention provisions of the bill wherein the merits and demerits of the crime prevention provisions of the bill are assessed.
One popular provision of the crime bill of 1994 is a national "three strikes and you're out" law. The federal version of this popular law provides for the lifetime incarceration of three felony convictions where specific conditions are met. The third conviction must be for a violent crime that is adjudicated in a federal court. The first two convictions, however, may be for either a violent crime adjudicated in federal court or violence- or drug-related felonies adjudicated in state courts. The federal law also provides for the release of some "third strike" prisoners once they reach the age of 70 if they have served a minimum of 30 years in prison.
Opponents of the "third strike" provision contend that in practice it will discriminate against minorities. Proponents contend that the on...