[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.