On the recordJune 12, 2007
I think there is probably very little that we could talk about today that would be more important than fatherhood and the important role it plays in the life of this Nation. This was brought home to me most vividly in January 1981 when I became judge of the criminal court in Knox County, Tennessee, trying felony criminal cases, the murders, rapes, armed robberies, the most serious cases. I was told that first day by Gary Tullock, the chief probation counselor for east Tennessee, 16 counties in east Tennessee, that 98 percent of the defendants in felony cases came from father-absent households. I'm not sure that it is quite that high, but I know it's well over 90 percent. It's the entire crime problem. I hasten to say that I know many good people have come from father-absent households, but I also know that children cannot raise themselves.
Source
govinfo.gov
