[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 46 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3198-S3200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO KATHLEEN STANFIELD WEINSTEIN

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life of a 
constituent of mine whose name was Kathleen Stanfield Weinstein.
  Unfortunately, she has been in the papers a lot in this last week. 
Her life was at once ordinary and extraordinary. She was a resident of 
a town called Tinton Falls in New Jersey. She was a wife to her 
husband, Paul, and the mother to their 6-year-old son, Daniel. Mrs. 
Weinstein taught special education classes at Thorne Middle School in 
Middletown Township in New Jersey.
  She was a teacher, the kind of a teacher that we all wish our 
children had at some point in their education. She had begun a program 
in which children were given special recognition for committing 
``random acts of kindness,'' toward their fellow students and the 
community--random acts of kindness. Everyone knows that plays on other 
words. The other words will become clearer in focus as I discuss Mrs. 
Weinstein's end of life.
  Today, Mr. President, the billboard in front of Thorne Middle School 
reads ``Mrs. Weinstein, Thank You for Your Random Acts of Kindness. We 
Will Miss You.''
  She did not retire, Mr. President. Some days ago while on her way to 
take a test for a graduate school course, Kathleen Weinstein did what 
so many of us do ordinarily. She stopped at a local delicatessen in a 
shopping mall for a sandwich. When she returned to her car, a young man 
jumped in the car with her, threatened her, saying he had a gun, and 
abducted her with the car. Some time later, a day or so, her body was 
found in a wooded area where she had been smothered with her own coat.
  Unfortunately, in these times, Mr. President, this kind of event does 
not seem extraordinary. Indeed, Kathleen Weinstein was an extraordinary 
woman. At some time during her ordeal she had the presence of mind to 
reach into her coat pocket and turn on a small tape recorder. She 
recorded the conversation that she had with her soon-to-be killer, 
capturing her final conversation.
  Kathleen Weinstein pleaded for her life, but not until she had 
engaged her young--turned out to be 17-year-old--attacker, just turned 
17, in what has been described as ``a meaningful conversation about a 
great many things.''

[[Page S3199]]

 They talked about the consequences for his young life, and there was 
still time, she cautioned him, to turn things around. They talked about 
``what happens by the decisions * * * that you make.''

  The young man did not take her advice. You see, he was about to 
become 17 years old, and in New Jersey that is the age for a driving 
license. He wanted a car just like hers. So he took it. In the process, 
he took her life--a despicable, horrible, outrageous act.
  Mr. President, Kathleen Stanfield Weinstein's exceptional character 
and tragic death have touched the heart of Americans from around the 
country. It is ironic that a woman dedicated to teaching random acts of 
kindness to our children should be taken by a single random act of 
violence. She was ordinary, yet extraordinary. The legacy of her life 
will continue to touch New Jerseyans for a long, long time to come.
  I have an excerpt from a newspaper, the Cincinnati Post, that 
includes some of the conversation that she had with this young man. I 
will take the liberty of reading some parts of it.

       In a secretly recorded tape she hid in her coat pocket, the 
     teacher is heard doing everything she can to reason with a 
     teen-age carjacker, authorities said. Eventually she breaks 
     down and begs in vain for her life.

  She says to him, ``You haven't done anything yet. All you have to do 
is let me go and take my car.''

       The woman's miniature tape recorder clicked to a stop 
     before she was smothered with her own coat and other pieces 
     of clothing, officials said.
       She ``valiantly and persistently used every skill and power 
     she had to convince her attacker to simply take her car and 
     not her life,'' [the prosecutor] said.
       This 24-minute recording provides the key piece of evidence 
     against the 17-year-old suspect.

  Through this article are accurate, precise statements that she made. 
The attack was described this way:

       After her attacker grabbed her from behind and forced his 
     way into her car at gunpoint, she managed to turn on the 
     voice-activated miniature cassette player hidden in a bag.

  She said to him, before he killed her,

       Don't you understand, though, what kind of trouble you are 
     going to get in? Don't you think they are going to find you? 
     You haven't done anything yet. All you have to do is let me 
     go and take my car. For my life, don't you think I should be 
     concerned and let you take my car? For my life! Do you really 
     want that on your head?

  Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the full article as it 
appeared in the Cincinnati Post be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Cincinnati Post, Mar. 20, 1996]

Teacher's Final Minutes Taped Secret Recording: She Begs Carjacker For 
                                  Life

       When investigators found the body of Kathleen Weinstein, 
     she was still able to tell them about her last moments alive.
       In a secretly recorded tape she hid in her coat pocket, the 
     teacher is heard doing everything she can to reason with a 
     teen-age carjacker, authorities said. Eventually she breaks 
     downs and begs in vain for her life.
       ``You haven't done anything yet. All you have to do is to 
     let me go and take my car,'' Ms. Weinstein tells the boy.
       The woman's miniature tape recorder clicked to a stop 
     before she was smothered with her own coat and other pieces 
     of clothing, officials said.
       ``I have no doubt Kathleen Weinstein spoke to us through 
     that tape,'' prosecutor Daniel Carluccio said as he released 
     transcripts of the tape Tuesday.
       She ``valiantly and persistently used every skill and power 
     she had to convince her attacker to simply take her car and 
     not her life,'' he said.
       The 24-minute recording provides the key piece of evidence 
     against the 17-year-old suspect-identified only as M.L.--who 
     was caught Sunday driving the women's car. His first name, 
     age and details about his past were on the tape.
       The prosecutor read some of Ms. Weinstein's comments but 
     did not disclose any of the youth's taped comments.
       He was jailed on murder and carjacking charges. Carluccio 
     said he would seek to have him tried as an adult.
       Ms. Weinstein, 45, of Tinton Falls, disappeared Thursday 
     after staying home from her job as a special education 
     teacher to study for a graduate school exam. She was en route 
     to take the test when she stopped to buy a sandwich.
       After her attacker grabbed her from behind and forced his 
     way into her car at gunpoint, she managed to turn on the 
     voice-activated miniature cassette player hidden in a bag, 
     Carluccio said. She later removed the tape and slipped it in 
     her coat.
       her body was found Sunday in woods near a highway in 
     Berkley Township. She leaves a husband and 6-year-old son.
       Text of fax box follows:
       A victim's final words
       Here are excerpts from the 24-minute recording made by 
     Kathleen Weinstein, the teacher who secretly recorded her 
     pleas to a teen-ager who police said stole her car and then 
     killed her. Authorities provided only selected quotes:
       ``Don't you understand, though, what kind of trouble you 
     are going to get in? Don't you think they are going to find 
     you?''
       ``You haven't done anything yet. All you have to do is to 
     let me go and take my car.''
       ``For my life, don't you think I should be concerned and 
     let you take my car? For my life!''
       ``Do you really want to have that on your head?''
       ``Why don't you just tell me? Of course it's important, 
     it's determining your whole life and the direction you're 
     taking. It's important. We're here for a purpose. That's what 
     happens by the decisions and things that you make.''
       ``Whatever trouble you're in, you didn't add to it yet, 
     right?''
       ``I'll make you a promise that I won't tell anybody. 
     Because you won't be taking my car and you won't be hurting 
     me. And maybe you can get away another way.''
       ``You can't have a life of crime like this. You'll wind up 
     spending your life in prison if you don't get killed.''
       On her plans to take in a foster child or adopt a child: 
     ``I want to give something to somebody, to give . . . to give 
     something back.''

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I make particular point of this horrible murder 
because it strikes a chord in all of us of our disappointment in the 
violence that threads our society, whether it is a young kid like this 
out to take a car or another youngster out to take a jacket--a 
senseless killing. Or like the killing recently here in Washington, DC, 
a 15-year-old boy, apparently a nice young man, good student, in trying 
to defend an argument between his younger sibling and another child--
stabbed to death.
  Mr. President, I ask a question that must go on in every home in 
everyone's mind in America: When will we stop this violence? How do we 
stop it? We sure do not stop it by a vote in the House of 
Representatives that says, ``Take away the ban on assault weapons. Let 
them have their assault weapons. That is part of freedom in America.'' 
That is nonsense.
  If I was not on public record I would use other words, perhaps, to 
describe it--to make sure that people could get their hands on weapons 
that are designed to kill people. That is what the vote was over 
there--some 230 votes for, and against, 170.
  I fought in World War II, Mr. President. I was no war hero, but I 
carried a weapon that could fire less shots than these assault weapons. 
I was supposed to kill the guys on the other side of the line. I was 
not called on to do it and they did not do it to me, either. The fact 
of the matter is the weapons issued to me as a soldier in the European 
theater were far less menacing than the kind of weapons we want to make 
sure everybody in America has, because the National Rifle Association 
says that is what we ought to do--make sure we free people up so they 
can bear their arms against their fellow citizens. That is hardly a way 
for a civilized society to conduct itself. When will we be so sick of 
violence that we will say no, no, no, you just cannot get a gun because 
you want one, and you are going to have to wait and pass a test just 
like you do when you want to drive a car?

  In my State, and in every State in this country, in the State of the 
distinguished occupant of the chair, there is a confrontation that 
could very well result in death and disaster. Lots of weapons are 
involved. In my State, a man walked into the post office in Montclair, 
my hometown, and shot four people. He is an ex-employee of the post 
office. At the Long Island Railroad out of New York City, a man shot 
and killed a number of people, one of them a young woman from New 
Jersey, whose parents I know. He did not know them, did not ever see 
them before.
  We hear about children picking up guns and killing other children. We 
hear about despondent daughters or sons taking their father's 
legitimately owned gun and blowing their heads off. We had four kids 
commit suicide in New Jersey a couple of years ago. They got hold of 
weapons and killed one another. There are disgruntled employees, 
disappointed partners, and family members who kill everybody in the 
family.

[[Page S3200]]

  We hear this trite old expression that makes me ill: ``Guns do not 
kill people, people kill people.'' Well, how do people get the ability 
to kill other people? I never heard of a drive-by knifing.
  Mr. President, one of these days, we are going to have to come to our 
senses about gun ownership, the proliferation of guns. I have 
legislation that I introduced the other day to reduce, on a Federal 
level, purchases of guns more than once a month. One gun a month, 12 
guns a year. That does not sound like much of a restriction. But we 
have a fight on our hands. Maryland just passed it in one of the bodies 
of legislature there, in their Senate. It is predicted that it will go 
through with dispatch. Virginia has a one-gun-a-month program. Because 
Virginia has a limit of 1 gun a month--can you imagine, 12 guns a year 
are able to be purchased? They have reduced the gun presence in the 
Northeast of guns coming from the State of Virginia by 60-some percent 
by restricting gun purchases to one gun a month. The madness of it all. 
In order to protect those who demand an arsenal, they can buy 12 guns a 
year. It does not seem like that is a necessary thing to me.
  But I am willing to take whatever steps I can to reduce the 
proliferation of guns in our society. I have become friends with Sarah 
and Jim Brady. I would not have before Jim was shot because we were in 
different parties and of different political or philosophical 
persuasions, because I never belonged to a gun organization. But Jim 
Brady was a good friend of the National Rifle Association, until 
someone attempted to kill President Reagan and shot Jim Brady in the 
attack. Jim Brady, who has been physically disabled, wheelchair bound 
since that time, has turned the opposite way, and so did his wife, when 
they saw what a terrible thing a gun could do. There are others I have 
met who used to support the National Rifle Association agenda, and when 
they suddenly see violence in their homes, they are opposed to gun 
ownership as randomly as it exists in this country.

  I have also introduced legislation that says that anyone convicted of 
even a misdemeanor on domestic violence charges should not be able to 
own a gun. Right now, someone who has indicated that their rage is so 
impossible to control that they can come home and beat up their wife or 
kids and get convicted and stand in front of a judge in Baltimore 
County, and he says, ``I cannot assign criminal penalties to someone 
who is not a criminal,'' after the man killed his wife. He gave him 
community service and, I think, 5 months in jail after he killed his 
wife. He does not call it a criminal act.
  Now, Mr. President, we cannot do the job by simply building more 
jails. There was an editorial piece, an op-ed piece, in the New York 
Times the other day--and that is not gospel, but it was reporting 
facts--written by Anthony Lewis. He said that the biggest program for 
building in California was the building of jails. While the number of 
students per teacher increases, meaning less attention to the students' 
needs, jails are being built. I think criminals ought to be punished 
and punished hard. But I think we also ought to look at what it is that 
drives all these people to criminality with all of the penalties that 
we impose, each of them getting longer and larger and tougher. That has 
not curbed the violence problem. Maybe we ought to say, hey, perhaps 
there is a different way to do this and examine the alternative. I hope 
that we will, Mr. President.
  If I sound agitated, I am. I think about this young woman, a devoted 
parent and teacher, a teacher of the type that we all respect and want 
in our schools. She was murdered by some young punk who decides he 
wants her car. He was encouraged by what he sees on television and what 
he sees in gun ownership. She is threatened by a gun and did not even 
know that it existed, but she knows when someone says they have a gun, 
very often that is the case.
  I hope we will learn from this courageous woman's death, and many 
other murders around the country, that we ought to do something 
differently. I hope that police departments across the country will 
start to prepare some advisory so that women can protect themselves. I 
have heard--and I do not know whether this is true; I state it 
secondhand--that a woman is better off to resist in a public place than 
to permit herself to be taken out of the public limelight. I do not 
know whether it is true, but I hope police departments--I would like to 
see police departments across the country prescribe actions in response 
to an attack of that type, to do something to protect themselves, to 
thwart the intentions of somebody who wants to take their lives, or 
take their property first and, typically, then their lives, and often 
whether or not the property is gained.

  Mr. President, I hope we do not have to keep on discussing these 
kinds of things in the U.S. Senate, or in the Congress, or in our 
Government, and that we can look forward to a more peaceful time within 
our society. We are all shocked and horrified by the prospect of 
military engagement in Bosnia and in other parts of the world, and we 
look with horror upon the period in Vietnam when so many of our young 
people fought bravely and gallantly against a bad policy decision. We 
lost 50,000 people in the period of years that the Vietnam war went on. 
Now we lose over 15,000 people a year in this country to gun murders. 
Unfortunately, it does not get a lot of attention.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________