[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 17 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Pages 679-680]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7084--National Crime Victims' Rights Week, 1998

April 20, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Every day, thousands of Americans become victims of crime. Many 
suffer physical injury, and most experience emotional scars that may 
never fully heal. And all victims of crime, and their families and 
friends, often remain troubled by feelings of vulnerability and 
concerned about their personal safety.
    Five years ago, my Administration made a commitment to take back our 
streets from criminals and to combat the crime and violence that affects 
so many Americans. With the Crime Act, the Brady Act, the Violence 
Against Women Act, and other tough legislation, we have put into action 
a comprehensive anticrime strategy that includes community policing, 
antigang programs, and strong penalties for criminals.
    Our strategy is working. Crime rates across the country are at a 25-
year low. Violent crimes and property crimes have decreased, and the 
murder rate is down dramatically. While we can take pride in this 
progress, we cannot afford to become complacent. We must build on the 
anticrime programs we have put into place if we are to win the war 
against crime.
    As part of our continuing efforts, this year the Department of 
Justice is awarding more than $135 million in grants under the Violence 
Against Women program to help State and local authorities reduce 
domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. These funds will enable 
communities to train more police, hire prosecutors, and provide 
assistance to the victims of such crimes. Earlier this month, after 
thorough study, the Secretary of the Treasury concluded that we should 
ban more than 50 kinds of modified assault weapons because they accept 
large-capacity military magazines. By keeping these weapons off our 
streets and out of the hands of criminals, we will take another crucial 
step toward halting the scourge of gun violence that has taken such a 
tragic toll on America's children and families.
    During National Crime Victims' Rights Week, we call to mind those 
whose lives have been so abruptly and often violently changed. This 
annual observance is also a powerful reminder of the extraordinary 
capacity of our citizens to face adversity and overcome it. Across 
America, victims of crime have refused to become victims of a criminal 
justice system that too often ignores or compromises their rights while 
protecting the rights of criminals.
    With courage and determination, crime victims and their dedicated 
advocates have succeeded in winning constitutional amendments in 29 
States that guarantee such fundamental rights as protection from further 
harm, which includes keeping victims and accused criminals in separate 
rooms during court proceedings; the right of victims to call upon law 
enforcement if they feel they are being harassed or intimidated in 
connection with a pending case; and the right to be notified of a 
convicted criminal's release from incarceration. And after decades of 
advocacy, a proposed Federal constitutional amendment for victims now 
lies before the Congress. We have the opportunity--and the 
responsibility--to amend the United States Constitution to ensure that 
the rights of victims are honored in every court throughout our Nation.
    This year, our observance of National Crime Victims' Rights Week 
coincides with the anniversary of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. 
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That tragedy brought home to 
an entire Nation the extraordinary suffering and grief that can be 
rendered by a single, senseless, criminal act. In remembering the many 
victims of this brutal crime, let us pledge to sustain our efforts to 
reduce violent crime, to provide comfort and support to its

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victims as they strive to rebuild their lives, and to keep victims' 
rights a primary concern in America's criminal justice system.
    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 19 
through April 25, 1998, as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. I urge 
all Americans to remember crime victims and their families by working to 
reduce violence, to assist those harmed by crime, and to make our homes 
and communities safer places in which to live and raise our families.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day 
of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., April 21, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register  on April 
22.