[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 29, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              PRAYING FOR THE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week, the U.S. Senate prayed for 
O.J. Simpson. Our Chaplain led us in prayer for this fallen hero, 
accused of a crime so horrible it defies description. We heard from the 
Book of Samuel: ``How are the mighty fallen.''
  Mr. President, it seems we talk more and more often of fallen heroes, 
but we sometimes forget who they fall on.
  So, Mr. President, this week I would like to suggest that all our 
colleagues reflect for a moment about the real victims in this case. 
About a young woman brutally murdered on her own front doorstep. About 
her friend stabbed so often his blood ran from one end of the sidwalk 
to the other.
  And, about the young children who watched the battery and heard the 
abuse for so many years, and who are now left alone.
  Mr. President, I do not rise today to suggest that O.J. Simpson is 
guilty of any crime. He will have his day in court. And, his fate will 
be left in the hands of twelve ordinary Americans.
  Ordinary Americans know that domestic violence has become an 
overwhelming epidemic in this country. Across this Nation, every 15 
seconds, a woman is battered. Every 6 minutes, a woman is raped. And, 
90 percent of family violence defendants are never prosecuted.
  Mr. President, you know I brag about my progressive State whenever I 
have the chance. But, today, I have sad news to report from my home 
State of Washington.
  Even though Seattle is a national leader in addressing these issues, 
7,900 incidents of domestic violence were reported there last year. 
That is a huge increase from the 2,100 incidents reported in 1985.
  We must do more to prevent this violence.
  Perhaps we are at a crossroads. I hope something positive will come 
from all the media attention this case is receiving. I urge the crime 
bill conferees to think about this case. I urge them to retain the 
violence against women provisions, which my good friends, Senator Biden 
and Senator Boxer, have worked so hard on.
  I hope we use this incident to remember who suffers in this society 
when these programs are not funded. Who cries when we look the other 
way?
  Mr. President, I would like our colleagues to take a moment today to 
pray for America's children.
  Our children are the true victims of violence. Today, in this 
country, there is so much child abuse. So much meanness. And, so little 
human decency.
  We force our overburdened teachers to be social workers and police 
officers. And, our children are left uneducated.
  We have ignored our foster care system. And, our children go 
homeless.
  We have created an unworkable and misguided welfare system. And, our 
children are hungry and scared.
  Just last week, the Justice Department told us that more than half of 
this country's reported rape cases were committed against girls under 
the age of 18.
  Time and again, I hear from ordinary Americans that there is an 
antidote to this violence and abuse--the simple value of accepting 
responsibility for our actions.
  I am tired of hearing phony, ridiculous explanations. An explanation 
for violence is not an excuse. What happened to personal 
responsibility? As individuals, we must do all we can to stop the 
escalating cycle of violence in this country.
  I wish there were just one simple bill I could introduce to make this 
problem go away. But, there is not. That is why we have to keep our 
children in mind with every piece of legislation we consider.
  Mr. President, I have hope. Something good can come from this tragedy 
which has captured the media's attention.
  But, it must start somewhere--or else, when the camera lights go off 
and the news media start a feeding frenzy somewhere else, Nicole 
Simpson will become as anonymous as the thousands of other American 
women murdered every year.
  Mr. President, I say to everyone within the sound of my voice: Take 
responsibility for your actions. As individuals, we must do all we can 
to stop the meanness, stop the anger, and end this cycle of violence. 
Realize that your actions will shape not only your life but also our 
entire community and our future generations.
  And to my colleagues I say: Remember the victims, and let us remember 
to pray for our children.
  Mr. LEAHY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Leahy] is 
recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask the Senator from Washington to stay 
on the floor for a moment. I wish to commend her for her remarks, and I 
hope they will be heard and reheard and heard again. I was not on the 
floor at the time the prayer to which she referred was made. I read 
about it in an article this morning.
  I have similar concerns about where public attention is placed. For 
8\1/2\ years, I prosecuted violent crimes. I had a rule that on every 
violent crime, I went to the scene of it. Very often, it was 3 or 4 
o'clock in the morning. In fact, for 8\1/2\ years, I was on call 24 
hours a day, 7 days a week because of my concern about violent crime. 
These crimes included brutal murder cases. I was thinking as I read the 
descriptions of the blood and the scene, and it brought back so many 
images, even in a State with a very low crime rate like my own.
  I say to those who would ignore that there are victims that I wish, 
just once, they could go to a murder scene as I have time and time 
again. It is not the cartoon things we see. It is not even the movies 
we see, and it is certainly not the PC television programs we see. 
There is an eeriness; there is a stench; there is an awfulness to a 
murder scene. I have been to scenes of murders of children, of 
spouses--incidentally, both male and female--friends, neighbors, and 
those who were just random victims of a burglary or a robbery gone 
awry.
  And I can remember cases I prosecuted--and I am not suggesting who is 
guilty or innocent, and I would hope there would be a trial where a 
jury would actually make up its mind on the facts and not on what some 
high-paid commentator on television says. But I remember cases I had 
where people said, ``How could this person ever have done something 
like this? The poor person must have been demented,'' blah, blah, blah. 
But we should remember it is the victims who are dead.
  Just think of the children involved here. No matter who did this 
murder, you have children whose lives are irrevocably changed--and I 
add, changed for the worse--because no matter what happens, whether 
they have wealth or other family members, or whatever else, they are 
damaged for life. You have a young woman who had most of her life ahead 
of her who is dead. You have a young man with most of his life ahead of 
him, and he is dead.
  On the one hand, I take some comfort that during my years as a 
prosecutor, I had the highest conviction rate on cases of domestic 
violence, I had the highest conviction rate on rape cases, and I had 
the highest conviction rate on murder cases of any prosecutor in our 
State. I take some satisfaction in that but. But, at the same time, I 
am dismayed that the cases were even there to prosecute.
  One of the reasons that domestic cases are there to be prosecuted, 
Mr. President, is that they are not prosecuted because you have a 
spouse who has been beaten and is sitting there ready to testify with 
black eyes or broken ribs or what not. They are usually prosecuted 
because that spouse is in the morgue, unable to testify. And it is then 
when you go back through the record that you find they were beaten this 
time and this time and this time.
  I can think of the cases that came to my attention for the first time 
as a prosecutor when the medical examiner called to tell me the results 
of an autopsy on the victim, and we find, for example, the husband, in 
one case--this upright pillar of the community who gave to all the best 
charities, was a church-going person, well respected, and who used to 
beat his wife on a very regular basis. But the police never followed up 
on the reports because they knew what a pillar of the community he was. 
When do we find it? When it can no longer be ignored because the body 
is in the morgue, and the autopsy is being done, and the results of the 
fractures and bruises and all are sealed.
  So the Senator from Washington does us a service in speaking out on 
this on the floor. On this or any other case, the one concern we should 
have with the person arrested is that their rights under our American 
jurisprudence system, the best one in the world, are protected. But 
once we have done that, let us not forget the victims. Spousal abuse 
will continue in this country so long as we ignore the fact that there 
are victims. Children will be molested and killed so long as we forget 
that there are victims. And if the only time we pay attention is when 
the body reaches the morgue, then, Mr. President, as a society we have 
failed, and we have failed miserably.
  So, frankly, I grow tired of hearing the constant commentary: How 
could such a person with so much ever end up in these straits?
  Let us think about how could the mother of these children, how could 
another person, both of whom had their lives ahead of them, end up 
dead, and how could these children see their lives unalterably hurt?
  I commend the Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague and commend him for 
his many years of service in remembering the children. I pledge to work 
with him and all others to continue that as we move forward.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

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