[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 191 (Thursday, December 13, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H15448-H15449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             YOUTH VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to speak to 
this important issue that we have been talking about that has been 
brought to the floor by Congressman Larson.
  As we all know, the pendulum seems to be swinging in an opposite 
direction as relates to our young people. According to the Center for 
Disease Control, homicide is the second leading cause of death among 
15- to 24-year-olds in this country. More closely, homicide is a 
leading cause of death for African Americans the ages of 10 to 24, the 
second leading cause of death for Hispanics ages in the same category, 
and the third leading cause of death for Native Americans, Alaskans, 
and Asian Pacific Islanders.
  The recent shootings in Omaha, Nebraska; Cleveland, Ohio; Blacksburg, 
Virginia; and actually my own hometown of Newark, New Jersey, have 
shone a harsh light on the rising crime epidemic plaguing our country. 
Our country has a proliferation of weapons. It is estimated that there 
are 300 million weapons in this country, one for every man, woman, and 
child. There seems to be a romance in some areas with guns, the fact 
that they can be purchased so easily in many parts of our country. Our 
State of New Jersey has one of the strongest antigun laws in the 
country; however, people can come in from other States and bring them 
in. We had four children, four young people, college students executed, 
four at one time, in a playground, almost gangster type.
  And so we have to do something to stop this epidemic which is 
plaguing

[[Page H15449]]

our country. We as a Nation, and particularly here in Congress, have a 
sobering choice to make: We can either continue to bury our heads in 
the sand and hide behind our tough-on-crime rhetoric and placing the 
sole blame on things like violent music and video games, or we can be 
proactive so that we can start seeing real reduction in crime. There 
are options available to us that are more cost-effective and life-
saving than throwing increased resources into cameras and metal 
detectors and security guards and prisons.
  Let it not be misconstrued that I believe that these are not 
important factors in our society. We certainly have to segregate 
violent criminals from the society. However, if we continue to unwisely 
spend an overwhelming amount of our constrained resources on this, we 
will continue to lose on the war on crime.
  According to CNN, cost analyses show that for every dollar spent on 
youth violence prevention, $14 is saved on what would have otherwise 
been spent in the criminal justice system. And so many times an ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
  As a matter of fact, as earlier mentioned, the disparity between 
crack cocaine and powdered cocaine led the sentencing commission once 
again to say this is discriminatory, it is absolutely wrong to have a 
5-year minimum sentence, mandatory, for crack cocaine. But for the same 
amount, or even 10 times more, and I believe it even goes up to 100 
times more for powder cocaine, you can have a suspended sentence. That 
is absolutely wrong. I am glad that the sentencing commission and the 
judiciary now are saying we should change this.
  Also, I am proud to say in New Jersey, just this past week, for the 
first State in the Union to ban by legislative action the death penalty 
in the State senate, and today that is being considered in the 
assembly, is I think really a just way for our State to move. So let me 
say that I commend Congressman Larson.

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