[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
                WHY HORRIBLE CRIMES ARE BEING COMMITTED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cantor). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, the terrible tragedy of the school shootings 
2 days ago in California should be, and I believe is, of great concern 
to all Americans.
  There are many reasons why these horrible crimes are being committed 
in several places by teenage boys, but I want to mention two major 
concerns I have.
  I was a criminal court judge in Tennessee for 7\1/2\ years before 
coming to Congress trying felony criminal cases. I was told the first 
day that I was judge that 98 percent of the defendants in felony 
criminal cases came from broken homes.
  I know that millions of wonderful people have come from broken homes, 
but almost all would say that family breakups made their childhoods 
much more difficult.
  I know, too, that divorce is now a tragedy that has touched almost 
every family, and I know that many times it cannot be avoided. But I do 
not know of anyone who hoped beforehand that their marriage would end 
in divorce.
  During my years as a judge, I went through approximately 10,000 
cases, because 97 percent or 98 percent of the defendants pled guilty 
and apply for probation or other considerations. I would get 10-page or 
12-page reports that went into the backgrounds and life histories of 
the defendants before me.
  I would read over and over and over again things like defendant's 
father left when defendant was 2 and never returned, or defendant's 
father left to get a pack of cigarettes and never came back.
  Unfortunately, millions of fathers have left their families, not 
realizing, I suppose, the great harm they are doing to their children.
  Of course, many times it is the woman who wants the divorce, but this 
special order today is as much as anything a plea for families to try 
to stay together, if at all possible, at least until their children 
mature.
  One of the greatest blessings you can give to any child, especially a 
small child, is a two-parent home.
  I could not help but notice that the boy who did the school shootings 
in California came from a broken home and had recently been moved from 
one side of the country to the other.
  The Federal Government bears a big part of the responsibility for all 
of these broken homes. Studies show that most marriages break up in 
arguments over finances, over money. For most of our history, 
government took a very low percentage of family income. In 1950, 
government took only about 8 percent to 10 percent. Today Federal, 
State and local taxes take almost 40 percent of the average family's 
income. Government regulatory costs that are passed on to the consumer 
in the form of higher prices take another 10 percent.
  One Member of the other body said that today one spouse works to 
support the family while the other spouse has to work to support 
government.
  Also, the giant Federal welfare state, which even former President 
Clinton described as a colossal failure, has helped contribute to the 
broken home situation. But if government at all levels would take less 
money from families, of course, it would not end divorce, but it would 
certainly mean that thousands of families that now split up would stay 
together.
  Also, for families that have already broken up, I hope other family 
members will do all they can to fill the void in time and attention.
  One article I saw about the boy who did the California shootings 
described him as a typical latchkey child.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago or 3 years ago, after another one of these 
tragic school shootings, I remember listening to the CBS national news 
and hearing the national head of the YMCA say that children in this 
country today are being neglected like never before.
  I hope this is not true. But the YMCA has not released some 
statistics reporting that nearly 8 million children are left alone 
after school between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00, which just happens to 
coincide with the peak hours for juvenile crime.
  The families need more money, so there will not be as many broken 
homes. We need to lower taxes at every level so that we can strengthen 
families, but children need a lot more than money. What they need most 
is love and time and attention.
  My second concern is the movement towards bigger schools. I saw an 
article in the Christian Science Monitor a couple of years ago which 
said the largest school in New York City had 3,500 students. Then they 
broke it up into five separate schools, and their drug and discipline 
problem went way down.
  Mr. Speaker, there are some exceptions, but in most places class 
sizes have been brought down to smaller or at least manageable size. 
However, going to bigger, more centralized schools meant that many 
young people felt like anonymous numbers or could not make a sports 
team or be a leader in some other school activity.
  Also some very large high schools seem to have been breeding grounds 
for strange or even dangerous behavior.
  Augusta Kappner, our former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, 
wrote recently in USA Today that good things happen when large schools 
are remade into smaller ones. She said incidents of violence are 
reduced; students' performance, attendance and graduation rates 
improve; disadvantaged students significantly outperform those in large 
schools on standardized tests; students of all social classes and races 
are treated more equitably; teachers, students and the local community 
prefer them.
  Mr. Speaker, students are better off going to smaller schools even in 
older buildings than they are in these big, giant schools where they 
just feel like anonymous numbers.

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