Duncan Faircloth: “the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 is designed to meet two goals: One goal is to prosecute criminals who would sink…”

“the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 is designed to meet two goals: One goal is to prosecute criminals who would sink so low as to burn churches to begin with. Second, we want to send a clear message that people of faith will not stand for this type of violence. Senator Kennedy and I have worked together on this legislation, and it is bipartisan legislation, in order to demonstrate that America's commitment to protect houses of worship across philosophical and geographical boundaries; that we are united in this effort. As I said last week, if we in Congress cannot agree that church burning is a despicable crime, what in the world can we agree upon? Several North Carolina churches burned down in the past year and a half. Some of these fires were accidents while others were clearly intentional. The criminals who set fires on purpose, whatever their reasoning, should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. In most of these cases, State and local law enforcement is more than capable of handling arson investigations. There is nothing in this bill to imply that we do not think local law enforcement is capable of doing their job. But there may be special circumstances such as criminals moving State to State setting fires where Federal assistance and a Federal statute is needed to adequately resolve the problem and to correct the situation. The Faircloth-Kennedy bill gives prosecutors the tools they need to fully punish guilty parties.”