[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            HARVEST OF TEARS

  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I got on a United Airlines plane 
recently, and when I finished doing the work I brought along, I reached 
for the publication of the airline. In it was a statement by Stephen M. 
Wolf, the United Airlines chief executive officer. It was not about 
airlines or transportation but about the problem of crime, and what 
we're doing in our country.
  Instead of the usual nonsense, Steve Wolf has a statement that really 
makes sense; urging us to take the long, hard, difficult road to 
solving crime that means paying attention to people from the earliest 
years on.
  I ask to insert Steve Wolf's message into the Record at this point.
  The article follows:

                    [From Hemispheres, January 1994]

                            Harvest of Tears

                          (By Stephen M. Wolf)

       Even in the land of freedom, there are communities 
     virtually taken hostage by murders, thieves, and drug 
     traffickers. The evening news could not paint a more lurid 
     picture of a nation where many citizens are afraid to leave 
     their homes and where youths use guns to establish authority.
       Is spending more money to build prisons and increase the 
     police ranks the answer? Yes, but only partly. These 
     approaches focus solely on crime after the fact--after the 
     crime is committed and after innocent victims have suffered. 
     I believe we will never reduce crime unless we direct more 
     money and energy toward early intervention, rehabilitation, 
     and drug programs.
       I certainly support the views that dangerous criminals 
     should be incarcerated and kept off the street for a long 
     time and punishment for violent offenders must be harsh 
     enough to send a strong message. But the nation's 
     preoccupation with the quick fix of building more prisons and 
     mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders has put more 
     people in jail, but not much else. According to USA Today, 
     between 1981 and 1991, the U.S. prison population more than 
     doubled, while violent crime rose more than 40 percent. 
     America, in fact, has the most people in jail per capita in 
     the world. Obviously, our current system is failing to deter 
     crime and make our streets safe again.
       We must find long-term answers. In the short term, we can 
     build more prisons, but to make real inroads in reducing 
     crime rates, we must assist at-risk children and young, 
     first-time offenders before criminal behavior becomes a way 
     of life.
       A Colorado judge recently addressed this issue in his 
     sentence of a juvenile offender. ``I hope that these days 
     when the juvenile justice system is under the microscope, 
     there will be recognition that crime prevention begins at 
     home,'' he said, ``and that if we do not spend money helping 
     parents and families, all the prisons in the world won't 
     solve the juvenile crime problem.''
       We are losing our children, as they commit serious crimes 
     at ever younger ages. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno also 
     advocates early intervention, believing the first three years 
     are crucial. ``We will never have enough dollars to save 
     everybody if we wait until they are 16 or 17,'' she said.
       Elected to five terms as state attorney for Dade County, 
     Florida, Reno believes children must have support and a 
     nurturing environment--ideally from their families--and has 
     put her theories into action. She opened Florida's first 
     domestic violence unit. She started a center to help with 
     child abuse cases. She brought teachers, police, and health 
     officials together to help families in one of the city's 
     poorest public housing developments. And she helped create a 
     Drug Court that emphasizes treatment instead of jail for 
     young first offenders.
       Because of her emphasis on children and crime prevention 
     programs, some have accused Reno of being ``soft'' on crime. 
     On the contrary, taking a long-term view of the problem is 
     not a sign of being soft on crime, but demonstrates the 
     wisdom in realizing that simply punishing those who commit 
     crimes has not provided an effective deterrent.
       We cannot continue to let crime grow unchecked. Unless we 
     attack it at its roots, many of our children will be tangled 
     in its branches and the only harvest our communities will 
     reap will be one of tears.

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