[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 38 (Tuesday, April 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 SUPPORT URGED FOR TRUTH IN SENTENCING

  (Ms. SCHENK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SCHENK. Mr. Speaker, today the Rules Committee will meet to 
decide which amendments to the crime bill will be made in order. While 
the committee has heard testimony about many worthy amendments, I want 
to emphasize the importance of one in particular--truth in sentencing.
  Like most other Members, I spent the past 2 weeks meeting with my 
constituents and listening to their concerns. And the one issue that 
was repeatedly mentioned as the most pressing problem facing our Nation 
today was not health care, or the economy--it was crime. The American 
public is scared and they want Congress to enact a crime bill that 
encourages truth in sentencing. Their message was clear: more prison 
time for rapists and murders, less prison time for nonviolent 
offenders.
  In California, inmates can cut their prison sentences in half with 
credits for good behavior or for working in prison. That means that 
murderers spend an average of 14 years in prison, rapists an average of 
4 years, and child molesters and average of 3 years. That is right, the 
average child molester in California spends only 3 years in prison--the 
psychological damage they inflict on the child lasts a lifetime.
  A truth in sentencing law will change this by conditioning Federal 
funds for prison construction on State laws requiring that violent 
criminals serve at least 85 percent of their time.
  I urge colleagues on the Rules Committee to adopt a rule that will 
allow us to consider a smart, sensible truth-in-sentencing amendment.

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