Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce the Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Control Act of 1996. This is the President's juvenile justice bill, and I am introducing it at his request. Over the last several years, a consensus has been building in our Nation, and we are now in the unusual position of having the public and the experts in agreement that juvenile crime and violence is the most pressing problem facing America. Moreover, we now have the statistics to back up the consensus: This past February, the U.S. Department of Justice released an update to its first national report on juvenile offenders and victims. The numbers in this report, as well as those in the FBI's most recent uniform crime report, demonstrate what many have been warning of for the last several years--we are facing a devastating rise in juvenile violence and crime. Between 1988 and 1994 the juvenile violent crime arrest rate has increased by more than 50 percent. In 1994, there were more than 125,000 juvenile arrests for violent crime offenses and another 131,000 juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations. A total of more than 2.2 million juveniles were arrested for crimes in 1994. Between 1993 and 1994, while adult arrest rates remained virtually stable, the total number of juvenile arrests increased 11 percent. Over this same period, the number of juvenile arrests for violent crime increased 6.5 percent.”