[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[May 13, 1996]
[Pages 735-736]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 735]]


Remarks Announcing Proposed Anti-Gang and Youth Crime Control 
Legislation
May 13, 1996

    Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by thanking all of you for coming 
here and, more importantly, for the work that you are doing. I'm glad 
that we finally have a chance to talk about these efforts to stop youth 
violence.
    As you know, we were slated to have this event the day that Ron 
Brown and his delegation tragically lost their lives in the Balkans. 
Before I go forward, I think I have to acknowledge that today all 
Americans have heavy hearts over another air tragedy, the one in Miami. 
We send our prayers, our condolences to the families of those who lost 
their lives in the Everglades.
    The Federal Aviation Administration has been conducting a review of 
ValuJet since February. Last night the FAA announced it will broaden the 
review to assure that ValuJet's flights are safe and fully comply with 
FAA requirements. I have directed Secretary Pena to report to me this 
week on additional measures the Department of Transportation and the FAA 
can take to ensure that all our airlines continue to operate at the 
highest level of safety. I'm determined to do everything I can to make 
sure that American aviation is the safest in the world.
    Now, let me thank the Attorney General and the U.S. attorneys and 
all of those who worked with them for the work they have done to curb 
youth violence and gangs. Thanks to the U.S. attorneys and the police 
chiefs here today, thanks to citizen supporters throughout this country, 
including a number of ex-gang members who in some communities have been 
very helpful in this regard, we have been able to see a substantial drop 
in the crime rate. We are determined to do all we can to help you and to 
help our young people.
    The crime bill of 1994 employed, as the Attorney General said, 
police, punishment, and prevention, backed by the best of new 
technologies and supported by communities. We knew this strategy would 
work because law enforcement people said it would work. And it is 
working. The 100,000 police, the Brady bill, the assault weapons ban, 
the other supports have led to drops in violent crime and murder and 
rape and robbery--everything across the board, except for crimes 
committed by young people.
    Youth violence is on the rise, as you have noted, not just in large 
cities but in small towns. And whenever there has been a dramatic rise 
in youth crime, it has a terrifying face, organized gangs. In my State 
of the Union Address I challenged our country to focus on the problem of 
youth violence, and I pledged that the United States Government would 
take on gangs in the way we had taken on the mob decades ago. We're 
fighting with a strategy that is coordinated and unrelenting, that does 
rely upon national, State, and local prosecutors and police and, above 
all, on citizens working with us.
    Two weeks ago in Miami, General Barry McCaffrey, our drug policy 
coordinator, and I set forth our drug strategy. We know what works 
there, too: education, treatment, stopping drugs at the border, 
punishing those who sell to the young. We are focusing this strategy 
more than ever before on young people.
    Last Friday at Penn State University, I asked citizens all across 
our country to play their role. We know that community policing won't 
work if we rely on police alone, that we need citizens, too. And I asked 
one million new citizen volunteers to join the 100,000 new police we are 
putting on the street. That's just 50 new members for every one of the 
community police watch organizations across this country today.
    Today I want to announce two more steps. First, we have just seen a 
remarkable demonstration of the National Gang Tracking Network, which is 
an important part of this strategy. I am pleased to announce that the 
first step of this network will now be funded through the Justice 
Department for use in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, 
Maryland, and Florida. Gangs are no longer local. We saw that today with 
the statement Miss Seymour made about South Carolina. So we say this: 
The gangs may run to another State, but they cannot hide. And they will 
find it tougher and tougher to escape the law.
    Second, we are proposing legislation designed with valuable help 
from the U.S. attorneys here, from local law enforcement officials, and 
law-


[[Page 736]]

makers, especially Senators Biden and Kohl and Congressman Schumer. Our 
``Anti-Gang and Youth Crime Control Act of 1996'' will use the very same 
strategy our crime bill used to make the juvenile justice system tougher 
and smarter, and to help our young people stay drug-free and away from 
guns and gangs and violence. It makes it easier for prosecutors to 
prosecute violent youth offenders as adults, toughens penalties for 
possession and use of firearms, reinstates a ban on guns in the schools, 
reviving a law that was struck down in the courts. It will establish 
more juvenile drug courts which give nonviolent offenders the chance to 
get off drugs before they wind up in jail. It will raise the maximum 
detention to 10 years and give judges flexibility in sentencing. It will 
harden penalties for those who sell drugs to children or use children to 
sell drugs.
    All this will help, but we also will have to have more parents being 
more responsible in teaching their children right from wrong and in 
looking out for them and more communities showing young people that they 
care, considering things like keeping their schools open more after 
school.
    We know 50 percent of the juvenile crime in this country occurs in 
the hours after the school day ends. More communities have considered 
doing what Long Beach, California, has done and what the Attorney 
General is trying to help others do, consider whether setting up a 
school uniform policy will help to reduce the influence of gangs and 
help to identify gang members and help to keep the crime rate down and 
the children safer. Regardless, we've all got a role to play if we're 
going to move toward a 21st century that is more free of guns and drugs 
and violent gangs.
    The message today to the Bloods, the Crips, to every criminal gang 
preying on the innocent is clear: We mean to put you out of business, to 
break the backs of your organization, to stop you from terrorizing our 
neighborhoods and our children, to put you away for a very long time. We 
have just begun the job, and we do not intend to stop until we have 
finished.
    Let me say again, this legislation I offer today has been developed 
with help from law enforcement. It is like the crime bill of 1994, 
straightforward, commonsense, there are no hidden meanings, there are no 
poison pills. It relies on partnerships with communities and citizens. 
And I hope Congress will join us in a bipartisan commitment to save our 
neighborhoods, our families, and our children from the threat of gangs 
and gang violence.
    This again is something we should be able to do, even this year, in 
a genuine spirit of bipartisanship, because we know it will work, and we 
know it will make a profound difference.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:56 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to the May 11 crash of ValuJet Flight 
592. The President also referred to Margaret Seymour, acting U.S. 
attorney for South Carolina.