[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 8, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4851-S4857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HELMS (for himself, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Brown, Mr. Grassley, 
        Mr. Lott, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Faircloth):
  S. 1733. A bill to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 to provide enhanced penalties for crimes 
against elderly and child victims, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.


 the crimes against children and elderly persons increased punishment 
                                  act

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, it's difficult to imagine an act more 
cowardly or reprehensible than a violent criminal act against a child, 
or an elderly person, or someone who is mentally or physically 
handicapped. But this dastardly criminality is becoming more and more 
common is society as a part of the general moral decay which is so 
painfully apparent in our cities and towns. Therefore, I am introducing 
a bill to strengthen the penalty for criminals who commit violent 
Federal crimes against children, the elderly, and those vulnerable due 
to mental or physical conditions.
  Crimes against the vulnerable are soaring. For instance, according to 
the Bureau of Justice Statistics, personal crimes against the elderly 
increased by 90 percent between 1985 and 1991--from 627,318 in 1985 to 
1,146,929 in 1991. Likewise, the homicide rate for children skyrocketed 
47 percent between 1985 and 1993.
  These are real victims, Mr. President, not just statistics. Just last 
month in Durham, NC, two mentally handicapped women were robbed at 
knife point. Earlier this year in Durham, a disabled Vietnam veteran--
partially blind and with limited use of his legs--was robbed after 
exiting a Greyhound bus. And in my hometown of Raleigh, I recall the 
reports of a blind, 77-year-old lady who in 1993 was raped in her 
backyard.
  These types of crimes are sick, outrageous, and revolting. Something 
must be done to make clear that this kind of depravity will be severely 
punished in the Federal system.
  The Federal law must reflect our extreme repulsion against those who 
would victimize people who cannot defend themselves. This bill stiffens 
the punishment, by an average of 50 percent, for criminals who prey on 
the vulnerable in our society by committing violent crimes--including 
carjacking, assault, rape, and robbery. More specifically, this bill 
directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase sentences by five 
levels above the offense level otherwise provided if a Federal violent 
crime is committed against a child, an elderly person or other 
vulnerable victim. By vulnerable I mean one whose physical or mental 
condition makes him susceptible to victimization by the thugs who 
commit these sorts of crimes.
  This bill increases most of these sentences by about 50 percent. For 
example, a conviction of robbery against a senior or a child currently 
carries with it a base-offense level of 20, which translates into 2\1/
2\ to 3\1/2\ years in prison. This bill raises the base-offense level 
to 25, jacking up the prison sentence for robbery to 4\1/2\ to 6 years.
  Incidentally, Mr. President, a substantially similar bill, introduced 
by Representative Dick Chrysler of Michigan, was passed 414 to 4 last 
night in the House of Representatives. The

[[Page S4857]]

American people are demanding that these loathsome cries against the 
vulnerable in our society receive the punishment they deserve. This 
bill moves us in the right direction, and I urge my colleagues in the 
Senate to move with dispatch to enact this bill.
                                 ______