[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 28, 1992]
[Pages 1682-1685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1682]]


Remarks to the Community in St. Louis, Missouri
September 28, 1992

    Thank you very much for that kind introduction, Chief Harmon. Let me 
say that I've heard a good deal about the work of this chief and of this 
police force. And I salute every man and woman who's out there in the 
St. Louis police force laying their lives on the line for us every 
single day of their life. We ought to be grateful to those who wear the 
uniform, and I'm certainly grateful to this group.
    And may I salute our great Governor, John Ashcroft, and fantastic 
Senator, Senator Jack Danforth. It's delightful to be in Fox Park, St. 
Louis, a friendly city. Actually, my mother grew up here. My brother 
lives here, cousin lives here. And I love that heartbeat of St. Louis. 
So thank you for this welcome.
    A word to those in this parish. I want to apologize to everyone who 
was counting on the usual Sunday bingo game last night. I hear that the 
Secret Service spoiled your fun when they had to check out the building. 
I'm sorry you missed the game. It was smart, though, to stay away. 
Believe me, you don't want to be jumping up suddenly and yelling 
``Bingo!'' around these Secret Service guys.
    This has all the earmarks of a political gathering, but I really 
want to talk to you today about what I consider a foremost, a first and 
most basic function of Government: to protect every American citizen 
from violence, at home and on the streets. Now, there's nothing new 
about that. Security is one big reason Government was created in the 
very first place. But what is new are the terrible forms that violence 
has taken recently, beyond anything our Founding Fathers could have 
imagined.
    A whole generation has grown up with the threat of nuclear terror 
hanging like a sword over its head. And it's been horrible. Our kids had 
nightmares. It seemed like it would never end. Well, it did end. And 
today I can stand up here and say something that no other President 
could ever say before: the cold war is over. Freedom finished first.
    Now, we must win the peace right here at home, in the streets of Fox 
Park. In too many places, our grandparents and grandchildren lock 
themselves behind the bars on their windows, afraid to come out from a 
jail called home. This simply must end.
    We've made progress against violent crime. We've slowed it 
dramatically the past 12 years. And we're beginning to turn the tide on 
the drugs that so often fuel it. But we got soft on crime way back in 
the sixties, and we paid for it. Then by the time we cracked down again 
in the eighties, violent crime had gone up 400 percent in 20 years. 
Since we cracked down, it's gone up just 27 percent in a little over 10 
years, and the overall crime index is actually down.
    So we've stemmed the tide, in a sense, prevented millions of crimes. 
But of course, that is simply not enough. It's never enough. The face of 
crime is changing fast, and we need our laws to react just as quickly, 
so that we can beat it.
    Let me give you a timely example. Carjacking: a brandnew word for a 
brandnew crime. Someone figured out it's easy to steal a car when it's 
already running, with the keys in the ignition. Of course, the owner's 
behind the wheel. So the criminal uses a gun. I want to tell you a story 
that literally sickens me, as I'm sure it will you, but describes what 
we're up against.
    Just a few weeks ago, in a nice neighborhood near Baltimore, a woman 
was sitting in her car at a stop sign. In broad daylight, two men forced 
her out of her car and drove off. But she was tangled in the seatbelt, 
trying desperately to save her baby. The mother was dragged for almost 2 
miles. The thieves tried to knock her off by banging into a fence, and 
tragically, she died. And you know what they did with her little baby? 
They tossed her out of the car like a piece of trash. Miraculously, that 
baby survived.
    And you know what? America is going to survive, too. We cannot put 
up with this kind of animal behavior. These people have no place in a 
decent society. And as far as

[[Page 1683]]

this President's concerned, they can go to jail, and they can stay in 
jail, and they can rot in jail for crimes like that. For that to happen, 
we need tough laws that don't bend over backwards protecting the 
criminal while saying to the victim, ``Tough luck, buddy.''
    Let's look for a minute at the Arkansas record and see where 
Governor Clinton stands. The average inmate in Arkansas served less than 
one-fifth of his sentence last year. Most Federal inmates serve at least 
85 percent of their full sentence. Violent crimes in that State, in 
Arkansas, went up almost 60 percent in the eighties, over twice the 
national average. Arkansas had the Nation's biggest increase in overall 
crime and the third-biggest in violent crime.
    This kind of record is not right for Arkansas, and it is not right 
for America. If you don't believe me, just ask the Fraternal Order of 
Police in Little Rock, Arkansas. They know Governor Clinton's record 
best, and they're endorsing me for President of the United States. The 
police know better than anyone that we're all vulnerable: men, women, 
children; white, black, brown; young, old; rich and poor. To a bullet or 
a blade we all look just the same.
    Americans deserve a Government that goes after the problem, that 
prevents and punishes crime and helps the victims, lifts up the victims 
of crime. That's why I want to see America make a move at the Federal 
level to step forward and support State and local police around the 
country in real, concrete ways. We need to help them fight.
    That's why 1,201 days ago, on June 5, 1989 [June 15, 1989]\1\--the 
same day Mikhail Gorbachev first hinted that the Berlin Wall might 
someday fall--I sent a comprehensive crime bill to Capitol Hill. I 
offered the hand of partnership to Congress and asked it to help me 
fight crime on a national level.
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        \1\White House correction
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    Listen to this: Since I first sent that bill to the Hill in 1989, 
here in the United States, we've had almost 60,000 murders, 260,000 
rapes, 1,600,000 robberies, and 2,600,000 assaults. By the way, 506 of 
those violent crimes took place right here in Fox Park. Think about 
that. Across America that's enough assault victims to fill the city of 
St. Louis more than six times over, victims brutalized while that bill 
languished on Capitol Hill.
    Now, I know the numbers are staggering. I know that Americans sit 
down in front of their TV's at night, watch the news, and say: Why 
doesn't somebody do something about this incredible mess? People are 
dying in the streets, for heaven's sake. Well, 1,201 days later, 
Congress still has not acted on my crime bill. I think if they had a 
glacier on Capitol Hill, they'd name it Speedy. You ought to try and get 
something done there.
    But frustrating as this crime bill has been, it's still my job as 
President to get results. There are good people on both sides of the 
issue, working in good faith for a compromise. And I will not rest until 
this matter is settled.
    This very week, we are now finally close to an agreement on a bill 
the Congress could send me, and I'll sign. The compromise bill could 
include, for example, a workable death penalty for horrible murders, 
committed by terrorists, assassins, and drug lords. It should target the 
shocking violence we see on television: the drive-by shootings and gang 
turf wars. This deadly behavior deserves deadly punishment. It should 
include provisions recommended by former Supreme Court Justice Powell to 
short-circuit an endless process of appeals that make a mockery of 
justice. There are other items prompting strong feelings on all sides, 
but we're making a good faith effort to reach a compromise.
    So I want you to know what's on my crime agenda. I'm not asking for 
anything but common sense and reasonable justice, especially for women, 
children, and the elderly victims of crime. I think I can get some of 
these items this year. Then, I'll come back to get more of them next 
year.
    Let me click off about eight key points here. First, apprehend and 
severely punish these carjackers, like the ones I just described. I want 
to make carjacking a Federal offense with harsh penalties. And I want 
thugs who take cars at gunpoint to stay in a

[[Page 1684]]

cell so long that when they get out they're too old to drive.
    Second, I keep talking about strengthening the family, well, here's 
one for you: Call the deadbeat dads onto the carpet. Right now, a single 
mother here in Missouri can be struggling to keep the kids fed and 
clothed on her small salary, while their father's up in Chicago 
somewhere, picking out a new Chevy truck with terrycloth pom-poms and a 
gunrack. Now, he could be way behind in child support, but no one can 
touch him because he's across the State lines. Well, I think that's a 
disgrace, and it's about time the long arm of the law reaches out over 
that State line, taps that deadbeat dad on the shoulder, and says loud 
and clear: time to pay up; cough up the cash or go to jail.
    The third, strengthen the laws dealing with sexual and domestic 
violence. For starters, we need to protect the victim. It is bad enough 
a rape victim is attacked in the first place. Then she takes the stand, 
and then she gets worked over and attacked by the rapist's lawyers. I 
say that makes two too many attacks.
    And I want repeat sex and domestic violence offenders behind bars 
until trial. Today, even a repeat offender can get arrested, be out on 
bond hours later, stalking his next victim or beating his wife and kids 
for turning him in. I want him detained until trial, and I want the 
prosecution to be able to use past convictions against him. Any of you 
law enforcement officers knows this, but right now, certain details 
can't even be mentioned in court, so-called little details like the fact 
that everyone and their dog within a country mile knows the guy acts 
this way regularly. And that's wrong. Let him pay for what he's done.
    Fourth, crack down on gang violence. I want gangs to be treated like 
the criminal enterprises they are. That way, we can go after the 
leaders, and we can deal harshly with them, and we can untie the hands 
of good cops so they can clean up decent neighborhoods. I also want to 
toughen the penalties for using juveniles in crimes. Some of the gangs 
right now can send underage kids out to do their dirty work because 
they're minors and they'll get off if they're caught. I think the older 
gang members should be punished harshly for treating these little kids 
like bullet fodder.
    Fifth, protection for the elderly. It is absurd that the folks who 
have contributed to this society all through their lives have to live in 
terror when they're old and frail just because some young punks see them 
as an easy target. They're as low as the thugs who pick on children. I 
want to beef up the laws that put these thugs behind bars.
    Sixth, the habeas corpus reform. Habeas corpus is supposed to 
protect the innocent, but it's turned into a ridiculous perversion of 
the law. Can you believe that a lot of these petitions drag on for more 
than a decade? Criminal lawyers use it to postpone justice. A guilty 
verdict can mean seemingly endless appeals that choke our courts and 
delay justice. It's about time we put a stop to this travesty. Let them 
have one habeas corpus petition and be done with it. And that's what I'm 
trying to do in that crime bill right now.
    The seventh, a Federal death penalty. I think certain acts of 
violence deserve the ultimate penalty. I'm talking about assassinations, 
murder for hire, terrorism, and other depraved acts. Add to that the new 
urban violence we see with gangs, drive-by shootings, random violence, 
gang massacres. These people are merchants of death, who trade in death. 
The death penalty is warranted in these cases. And I wish Congress would 
move and do something about it.
    And eighth--and this one's short--firearms. I want much tougher 
penalties for criminal use of firearms, period. Tighten up the law, and 
take the risk away from these law enforcement officers.
    Now, I'm not saying that tougher laws are going to fix absolutely 
everything. I'm a firm believer in justice, but I think punishment is 
only part of the solution. The other part has a more human face. 
Tomorrow's criminals are still just kids today. And while I believe in 
resources for law enforcement and in reform for law enforcement, I also 
believe that at some point early in life, a youngster at a critical 
juncture can be steered to a life of right or a life of terrible wrong. 
It all depends on the kind of soil you plant these kids in and how you 
nourish them. I just had a wonderful briefing up-

[[Page 1685]]

stairs by the chief and some of our community leaders, including the 
pastor of this church, and what impressed me is what the community is 
doing to help these kids before they get caught up in this wave of 
criminality.
    All of this is why I believe that our ``Weed and Seed'' program, the 
Federal program, is so very crucial. ``Weed and Seed,'' that means going 
into a rough neighborhood, eradicating the ``weeds'' of violent crime 
that can choke a young life and then replacing them with ``seeds'' of 
social opportunity and reform. That's what Operation Crackdown in St. 
Louis is all about: the Federal Government, working with local law 
enforcement, reclaiming crack houses and giving them back to the 
community. And that's what your--the chief talked about your COPS 
program, here in Fox Park, is all about, too, on a local level. Real 
people making real changes in your own neighborhood.
    You know, just the other day, only a few blocks from here, police 
officers raided a crack house on Ohio Avenue. And as those officers came 
out of the house with those drug dealers handcuffed, the neighbors--
maybe some of you all were there--came out to their porches and gave 
those police a standing ovation and a cheer. That's what this country is 
hungry for. Americans want to take crime out of their neighborhoods and 
put the neighbors back. And we've got to weed the poison growth from the 
soil, and in its place, plant the seeds of hope.
    I know there's a craving. I know you just want to be able to walk 
down to Worth's Market or down to Fox Park here for a stroll or over to 
Bartlett's Grocery Store for a newspaper or Mary's Restaurant for a cup 
of coffee, even if she is a Democrat--[laughter]--and you want to do it 
knowing you're safe in your own neighborhood that you've helped build 
and kept alive.
    I think John Mirgaux said it best. He lives in this neighborhood and 
knows about that old crack house over on Ohio. He said he and his wife, 
Eleanor, had been thinking about selling their house and just moving 
out, moving away from the drugs and all the ugly crime. But you know, 
he's lived in Fox Hill his whole life. It's his neighborhood. And after 
the raid, he and Eleanor did some thinking. And he put it this way. He 
said, ``You know, I've been waiting for this to happen. Now we're going 
to make a stand.''
    Please join us. Join John and Eleanor and Ohio Avenue and Fox Park 
and St. Louis and Missouri and this whole United States and make a stand 
against crime today, because the people deserve it.
    Thank you all so very much for listening. May God bless Fox Park, 
Missouri. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you all 
very, very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 10:21 a.m. in the 
                        parish hall at St. Francis de Sales Roman 
                        Catholic Church.