[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10686-S10687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DeWINE:
  S. 2083. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to set forth 
the civil jurisdiction of the United States for crimes committed by 
persons accompanying the Armed Forces outside of the United States, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.

[[Page S10687]]

             the military and civilian law coordination act

 Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I believe certain elements of the 
U.S. military justice system need to be reformed. For example, current 
conditions contain loopholes that allow military criminals to receive 
pay--even after conviction. They allow nonmilitary personnel residing 
on military bases who commit crimes to escape criminal prosecution. And 
they allow military personnel who have committed crimes to be 
discharged without their criminal records being included in the FBI's 
National Crime Information Center system.
  I believe we must close these loopholes.
  Mr. President, under current law, a soldier sentenced to and awaiting 
dishonorable discharge, remains on the taxpayer's payroll, unless 
otherwise ordered by the military court. While in military custody, 
that lawbreaker continues to collect a paycheck from the rest of tax-
paying America.
  Mr. President, this simply should not be the case, in the streets of 
Cleveland, Seattle, or Denver, when a criminal breaks the law, he is 
removed from those streets. When he is allowed to return to those 
streets, his time in jail will have cost him a few things. Of course, 
chief among these things is his loss of freedom for the period of 
confinement. But he will also not collect a paycheck while 
incarcerated. We do not pay and should not pay our prisoners for 
serving their time in jail.
  A Cincinnati man, convicted of rape, burglary, and assault by a 
military tribunal, later collected something on the order of $40,000, 
after taxes, for serving out his sentence. A Wright-Patterson Air Force 
Base airman, convicted of molesting a 4-year-old girl, has collected an 
average of $4,700 per month while serving out his sentence. Three years 
after his confession, he had received $148,616 from the U.S. taxpayers. 
He even received raises while behind bars.
  There are many such stories, Mr. President.
  This bill addresses that injustice to the taxpayer. This bill makes 
that law-breaker serve out the sentence he has earned--at his own 
expense. It is already enough of a burden that the taxpayer has to pay 
for the room and board of that prisoner during the sentence, after he 
or she already paid more than enough to train and keep that soldier.
  The loss of opportunity and earnings should be something the criminal 
pays for himself, the taxpayer should not pay for it. When that 
soldier breaks the law--and in doing so, breaks his agreement with the 
taxpayer--that should be the end of the taxpayer's responsibilities.

  Once that soldier decides he no longer wants to be a law-abiding 
citizen, he is on his own, financially and otherwise. Mr. President, 
again, we should not pay our criminals for serving out their sentences.
  My bill addresses another important gap in the law. Under current 
law, many illegal acts committed abroad by U.S. soldiers or 
accompanying civilians go unaddressed by the military courts. The 
prosecution of these crimes is left to the discretion of a military 
court, which often decides to do no more than hand down a dishonorable 
discharge, unleashing that criminal on civilian society. This should 
not be the case. Mr. President, there should be no geographical limits 
to the law.
  This bill guarantees that a soldier or accompanying civilian abroad, 
committing an illegal act punishable under the United States Code by 
more than a year's imprisonment, will be handed over to civilian 
authorities for prosecution under the United States Code. The military 
should not be able to rid itself of its criminals at the expense of law 
abiding civilians. These criminals belong behind bars, not just out of 
the service and back in our streets. This bill will keep them out of 
our streets.
  There is a final aspect of this bill intended to protect civilian 
Americans from the actions of enlisted criminals. This bill also 
mandates that when an enlisted criminal is discharged from the service, 
the military Secretary will turn over to the FBI all the criminal 
records of that soldier for inclusion in the FBI criminal records 
system. It also requires sex offenders who are discharged from the 
military to submit a DNA sample before discharge so that that sample 
can be included in the FBI's CODIS system.
  Again, Mr. President, this is another way to protect the tax-paying, 
law-abiding American from dishonorably discharged criminals. Under 
current law, the criminal histories of these military personnel do not 
become part of the National Crime Information Center database and the 
FBI's CODIS system. This bill will ensure that they do.
                                 ______