[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 16 (Monday, April 21, 1997)]
[Pages 526-527]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6989--National Crime Victims' Rights Week

April 15, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    During National Crime Victims' Rights Week, Americans in communities 
across the country join together to honor victims and survivors, to 
remember their pain, and to recognize their many contributions to 
improving our criminal justice system and helping others affected by 
crime. It is also an occasion for us to acknowledge our significant 
progress in securing crucial rights and services for crime victims.
    As we reflect on the events of this past year, we think of all our 
fellow citizens who became victims of crime on our streets, at home, in 
our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our workplaces, and even in our 
sacred places of worship. We remember the images of dozens of mostly 
African American churches being consumed in flames, and we recall church 
leaders and their congregations, representing all denominations and 
races, reaching out to invite healing and rebuilding--not in isolation, 
but in an extraordinary spirit of community and unity. We also remember 
the many contributions of crime victims in pioneering crime prevention 
programs in our schools and working to strengthen our laws and to 
enlighten all of us about the needs of all crime victims.
    Through the dedicated efforts of crime victims and their advocates, 
criminal justice workers, and responsive legislators, we have made 
important strides in the struggle against violence. The Violent Crime 
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 allocated an increase in 
resources for criminal justice programs, deploying thousands of new 
police officers on our streets. The Brady Bill has prevented over 
225,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers from buying handguns since it 
was enacted. And the Community Notification Act, known as ``Megan's 
Law,'' is helping us protect our most vulnerable citizens by informing 
communities of the presence of convicted pedophiles. With community 
notification, we are working to prevent cases like that of the Act's 
namesake, Megan Kanka, a 7 year-old who died at the hands of a repeat 
sex offender released into an unsuspecting community. With these and 
other preventive measures, we've managed to reduce the rate of violent 
crime for 5 straight years and to restore hope of reaching our goal of a 
peaceful America.
    We can also take heart in our efforts to assist victims in need of 
justice and healing in the aftermath of violent crimes. The Violence 
Against Women Act, a historic and comprehensive plan targeted at ending 
crimes against women, has provided much-needed services to countless 
domestic violence victims and their children. Likewise, the National 
Domestic Violence Hotline, established last year, has responded to more 
than 73,000 calls for assistance from around the country. As a result of 
over $500 million in deposits to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in 
fiscal 1996, the States will receive more than three times as much in 
Federal

[[Page 527]]

funds as they have received in any previous year to support local victim 
assistance programs. And the Antiterrorism Act has guaranteed 
restitution to victims of Federal crimes and mass violence; it has 
already provided substantial assistance to victims of the Oklahoma City 
bombing.
    This year, we can take one more historic step to ensure that victims 
throughout our country are guaranteed the fundamental rights to be 
present at proceedings, to be informed of significant developments in 
their cases and of their rights, and to be heard at sentencing and other 
appropriate times throughout the criminal justice process. The Congress 
should pass a Victims' Rights Amendment to the United States 
Constitution that will, when ratified by the States, ensure that crime 
victims are at the center of the criminal justice process, not on the 
outside looking in.
    We must stand united in caring for and assisting crime victims 
throughout our country.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 13 
through April 19, 1997, as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. I urge 
all Americans to follow in the example of victim advocates and reaffirm 
our common purpose to protect and comfort one another in times of 
hardship--not only during this special week but also throughout the 
year.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day 
of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 16, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
17.