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DOLE ON CRIME
MAY 28, 1996
TRANSCRIPT
A speech given by Senator Dole this morning in front of a police memorial in Aurora, Colorado. The subject was crime.
SEN. ROBERT DOLE, Republican Presidential Candidate: Many Americans believe our criminal justice system is failing, and they are right. Our two parties have embraced two different visions of crime and punishment. Until fairly recently, the debate in America was how to catch and punish wrongdoers, not whether to punish them or whether they were even wrongdoers. The debate was not about root causes and theories about rehabilitation. It was about right and wrong, guilt and innocence. And we believe killing is caused by killers, robbing by robbers and drug dealing by drug dealers. The liberal view is that crime and violence are not so much punishable offenses as treatable disorders. But the liberal philosophy is not the solution to our crime problem. In fact, it's part of the problem. And it's one of the reasons Bill Clinton will be remembered as a President who just didn't get it. He understands what he needs to say but he just doesn't grasp what he needs to do. Let me tell you how--about policies I'd implement as President, replace crime fighting rhetoric with actions. Many of the rules of our juvenile justice system were signed when the worst offense is committed by teenagers. This was true when I was county attorney, including joy riding and truancy. Fortunately, many states are now changing these rules. They're doing it in Colorado too, and revising their juvenile justice system to reflect the violent realities of our time. The federal government can help lead by example. We must close the gap between crime and punishment. That means ending parole for violent offenders. We've already abolished parole at the federal level and some states have done it as well. Now it's time to abolish parole all across America.
About one in every three violent crimes is committed by someone on parole, probation, or pre-trial release. There's no excuse for revolving door justice. A convicted violent criminal should serve the full sentence.
(applause and cheers)
A convicted violent criminal should serve the full sentence. (applause) We must make life tougher for rapists. We passed Megan's Law, which requires that states establish registries and inform communities when there are convicted child molesters and other sex offenders in their midst. It's a good law, and it ought to be clarified to apply to all persons convicted of statutory rape or violent forcible rape, rape. This is just common sense. Rapists released from prison are ten and a half times more likely to be arrested once again on a rape charge. We must also crack down on those who produce traffic in child pornography. Today the penalties at the federal level are much weaker than they are at the state level. So many federal prosecutors turn it over to the state courts. And we ought to make it tougher. We ought to have a minimum of 10 years for the first offense, 15 years for the second offense, and life for the third offense. Child pornography will end in a dull administration. (applause) And I have high regard for many lawyers. In fact, I do mean many because America has 5 percent of the world's population and 70 percent of the world's lawyers.
(laughter in audience)
But the profession has faults which are very clear to the public, and despite the opposition of the American Bar Association and their liberal allies, the Republican Congress succeeded in reforming the death penalty appeals process so Death Row inmates can no longer delay their sentences years and years of often frivolous petitions. It took more than a decade to fix that, but we got it fixed. (applause) I am for due process but I am also for due justice. And when you have police act in good faith, in my view, that evidence ought to be admitted in court, and we ought to spend more time looking out for the rights of victims rather than trying to find new rights to give to criminals. Everyone charged with a sexual assault should be tested for the HV virus--HIV virus, and the results released to the victim. The President must be on the side of the victims. He must the bully pulpit of the White House to bring Americans together against criminals of every kind, whether it's drug dealers, scam artists, killers on the streets, or those perpetrating new forms of terror, such as the recent epidemic of fires in African-American churches in the South. These hate crimes are wrong, they are evil, and they have no place in the United States of America. And those who commit the crimes should be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. (applause) So I would just suggest to all of you, this is an important issue. Crime is an important issue in America, whether it's dry or wet, it's an important issue.
(laughter in audience)
And we've already demonstrated our commitment to it, at least you have, being out here today. And I would just promise everyone in this audience and everybody who might have been in this audience on a sunny day that I am serious about this. We're going to tell the truth. We're going to do things that we believe will make America safer so your children can walk on the streets and go to their playgrounds, so you can walk back and forth to the shopping center without worrying about being mugged or worse after dark. This is the United States of America. We have an obligation to protect our citizens. And that obligation is not being carried out in the Clinton administration, and it will be carried out in a Dole administration, and you can count on that. And I say to all of you, let's get together, let's go to work, let's win the election. God bless America! Thank you all for coming. (applause)
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