[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 37 (Monday, September 19, 1994)]
[Pages 1766-1768]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to United States Attorneys on the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994

September 14, 1994

    Thank you very much, General Reno, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to 
the White House, and I want to begin by just thanking you, all of you, 
for the work you did to help us pass the crime bill. It was one of the 
more interesting and rigorous legislative exercises we've had around 
here in a long time. I believe that you fought for this crime bill 
because you knew that there was so much in it that would actually work 
for this country.
    And I'm encouraged as I saw some of the coverage on the crime bill 
last night that people are finally beginning to look at a lot of the 
provisions that weren't so hotly debated during the campaign for and 
against the crime bill that are really going to help us to make a 
difference to lower the crime rate and make the American people safer. 
We know that some of these things will work. We have example after 
example in America that more police, properly deployed in community 
policing settings, will actually lower the crime rate. We have example 
after example that if you can figure out how to lock up the repeat 
offenders and give the first-time folks a chance to build a better life, 
you can lower the crime rate. We know that if you can keep guns out of 
the hands of schoolchildren, you can make the schools and the streets 
safer, you can save a lot of victims, and you can save a lot of 
potential criminals, too, for a more constructive life.
    But the hard work of passing the crime bill, as I said yesterday 
when I signed it, was only the beginning. It's up to those of us who are 
charged with executing the laws to roll up our sleeves and put the crime 
bill to work as quickly as we possibly can.
    One of the most important provisions of this crime bill is one which 
has been largely overlooked, I think, in this debate. I want to discuss 
it with you today because I think it can make a huge difference. And 
that is the ban on juvenile possession of handguns. Except when hunting 
or target shooting with a parent or other responsible adult, young 
people simply shouldn't be carrying guns. Period. This provision is 
critical to our ability to make our schools and neighborhoods safer. It 
is so critical that I am directing you today, each of you, to prepare a 
plan in your districts for enforcing this law over the next 100 days. We 
need to work with local law enforcement officials and other local 
officials as you have been doing.
    And I want to compliment all of you and compliment the Attorney 
General for bringing this group in on a repeated, disciplined basis and 
working closely with you on policy. And then I want to thank you for the 
work you've done with State and local officials.
    But we have to make this work. If this law turns out to be just a 
law on the books that is widely ignored and never enforced, it will be a 
terrible shame, because this law can save our children's lives. This law 
can make a huge difference, but we obviously have to have a strategy to 
enforce it, and the means by which it is enforced may not be the same, 
as a practical matter, in every district in the country. So I want to 
urge you to do that. By January the 1st, we should have a strategy in 
every community to get guns out of the hands of violent teens and away 
from young

[[Page 1767]]

criminals. Anybody can talk tough on crime; this law gives you a chance 
to be both tough on criminals and successful in making your community 
safer. We must--we must--implement it vigorously and promptly.
    I also want to discuss the penalties which are in the laws, which 
are now available to you, to make sure that people who do commit serious 
crimes are punished, people who commit violent crimes are punished 
severely, people who repeat their offenses are punished even more 
severely.
    This crime bill gives you the ultimate punishment, capital 
punishment, for most heinous crimes, including murdering a police 
officer. It makes it possible to keep repeat violent offenders off the 
street for good with the so-called ``three strikes and you're out'' law. 
It stiffens the penalty for criminals who lure children into the drug 
trade. And from now on, if you use a child to sell drugs, the penalty 
will automatically be tripled.
    It tells young people that if you commit a serious crime or belong 
to a gang, you can get more time in jail automatically. It not only 
helps to protect communities by notifying them of people who have 
committed crimes which qualify them as sexual predators, but from now 
on, the penalty for these offenses has doubled. The bill has some 
remarkable provisions in the violence against women section, which I 
urge all of you to read, become familiar with, and use. Violence in and 
around the home is still a terrible problem in this country, and it 
gives us the tools to do something about it. It has some innovative 
provisions for boot camps and drug courts, and other innovations which 
we know have worked to lower the crime rate and to give people the 
chance to live a safer and more secure life.
    These are just some of the examples of what is in the crime bill. 
Much of America does not know everything that's in the crime bill yet, 
but many people in the law enforcement community don't know everything 
that's in the crime bill yet. The penalties for selling drugs to 
residents of public housing are doubled. There are increased penalties 
for felons who commit crimes with guns, for criminals who use assault 
weapons, for those who sell guns to minors.
    All of these things have to be implemented in order to work. The 
most important thing I want to emphasize today is the sweeping ban on 
handgun possession by minors. If we can enforce this, it will make a 
massive difference in the problem of youth violence. So let's come back 
here in 100 days with a plan to do it, and let's start the next year, 
1995, with a system in place that will prove that the confidence of the 
people in this crime bill is not misplaced, and that we are going to 
lower crime, reduce violence, and increase security in the United States 
with your leadership.
    Thank you very much.
    Now I would like to introduce Mary Jo White and Michael Stiles, and 
they're going to speak, and maybe they'll ask me to do something, since 
I asked you to do something.
    The Attorney General said that's dangerous; they'll ask for money. 
I've gotten good at saying no to that. [Laughter]
    Let me also say, just as I introduce Mary Jo and Michael, because I 
know they are the leaders of this task force representing you in working 
with the Attorney General, we have worked very hard here at the White 
House and in the Justice Department in the appointment of United States 
Attorneys, in the appointment of Federal judges, and we are proud of the 
job that we have done because of the job that you are doing and the job 
you will do. And I want you to know that that is also, to me, a very 
important part of the President's job, and I spend a great deal of time 
on it.
    So I want to emphasize again, as I ask Mary Jo and Michael to come 
up here, that one of the things that I have been so pleased about the 
Attorney General's performance in doing is bringing you here on a 
regular basis and involving you in a regular way in making the policy of 
the Justice Department. Because for most Americans, the policy of the 
Justice Department is not the decisions we make about what appeals to 
enter into or what position to take on appeals; for most Americans, the 
policy of the Justice Department is what you do all day every day, and 
we thank you for that.

[[Page 1768]]

Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the 
White House.