    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 17 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
    [Pages 707-708]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7187--National Crime Victims' Rights Week, 1999

    April 22, 1999

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        Over the past year, in communities across our Nation, Americans have
    witnessed with shock and disbelief the painful consequences of hatred
    and brutality. The beating and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and
    the killing of Billy Jack Gaither in Alabama taught us how easily
    prejudice can erupt into violence. The murder of James Byrd in Texas
    reminded us in stark terms of the poisonous legacy of racism in America.
    While the victims of these crimes are known to us because of the
    particularly heinous nature of the acts that took their lives, there are
    thousands more Americans unknown to us who become victims of crime each
    day. Behind each of these tragic statistics is an individual whose
    rights have been violated, whose life has been taken or irrevocably
    changed, and whose family, friends, and community have been touched by
    the shadows of violence and fear.
        Recognizing the widespread impact of crime on our Nation, my
    Administration has worked hard during the past 6 years to strengthen our
    criminal justice system, to reduce the incidence of crime, and to
    champion the rights of crime victims. Through such landmark legislation
    as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994--which
    included the Violence Against Women Act, the Brady Bill, and the
    Community Notification Act--we have put thousands of new police officers
    into America's communities, given crime victims a greater voice in the
    criminal justice process, prevented more than a quarter million felons,
    fugitives, and stalkers from obtaining handguns, and protected women and
    children from violence and abuse in their homes and communities. With
    these and other measures, we have provided communities with needed
    assistance and have helped reduce the violent crime rate in the United
    States to its lowest level in nearly a quarter century.
        But we still have much to do if we are to prevent those crimes
    motivated by hatred.

    [[Page 708]]

    That is why I have urged the Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention
    Act of 1999. This proposed legislation would strengthen existing Federal
    hate crimes law by covering crimes committed because of the victim's
    sexual orientation, gender, or disability, and by expanding the
    situations in which prosecutions can be brought for violent crimes
    perpetrated because of the victim's race, color, religion, or national
    origin.
        As recent events have made clear, we must address intolerance early
    in life. We are reaching out to students in middle school--young people
    who are at an especially impressionable age--through a public-private
    partnership entitled ``Dealing with Our Differences.'' This partnership
    will develop a program to teach tolerance in the classroom, highlight
    positive ways in which adolescents are dealing with issues of diversity,
    and show the harmful impact intolerance causes in the daily lives of our
    youth. In an effort to understand better the problem of hate crimes and
    prejudice among young Americans, I have asked the Departments of Justice
    and Education to include in their annual report card on school safety a
    new section on hate crimes among our youth, whether they occur in school
    or elsewhere; and these departments will also collect and publish data
    regarding hate crimes and intolerance on college campuses.
        During National Crime Victims' Rights Week, let us remember not only
    those who have suffered at the hands of criminals, but also those
    generous men and women who work each day to bring justice and healing to
    victims and their loved ones. Whether as victims' advocates, counselors,
    law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, or community volunteers, they
    reflect America's resolve to protect the rights of every citizen and to
    build a future where our differences no longer make us targets of hatred
    and intolerance. Let us also remember in our prayers the people of
    Littleton, Colorado. While it is still to early to determine the
    specific circumstances that led to this week's tragic events, it is
    never too soon to teach our children that violence and hatred are wrong
    and have no place in our schools or in our society.
        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 25
    through May 1, 1999, 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 twenty-second
    day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine,
    and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
    and twenty-third.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:11 a.m., April 26,
    1999]

    Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on April 23, and it was published in the Federal Register on
    April 27.