But there are signs that a new and more honest politics of crime is emerging. As pressure grows from voters frightened by what they see as a rising tide of violence, traditional partisan divisions are softening. Democrats are talking more openly about crime and its links to illegitimacy and welfare dependency; some Republicans are finding that there’s political life after voting for gun control. On Nov. 19 the Senate passed a crime bill loaded with the usual hard-line measures. It also had something new: money. The measure provides $8.9 billion for 100,000 new police officers on city streets over the next five years.
The most dramatic symbol of change was last week’s Senate passage of the Brady bill after a bruising seven-year fight with the National Rifle Association (NRA). The measure establishes a five-day waiting period on handgun purchases so that buyers can be screened for criminal records or mental instability. As crime-busting bills go, it’s a modest one. The 22 states that already require waiting periods report no appreciable decrease in violent crime. But supporters say it sends a significant new message. “The public is finally fed up with Congress listening to the NRA,” says Jeffrey Muchnick, legislative director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “You can vote for gun control and survive. The public, in fact, will reward you if you do.”
President Clinton is using his bully pulpit to frame the crime issue as part of a broader social debate. Drawing on the themes that define him as a New Democrat, he is stressing personal responsibility and collective action as an important part of any solution to the problem. At a black church in Memphis on Nov. 13, Clinton acknowledged government’s role in fighting crime, but also challenged the African-American community to look to itself for an end to black-on-black violence. “Sometimes, all of the answers have to come from the values and the stirrings and the voices that speak to us from within,” he said. Later in December he’ll meet with big-city mayors and police chiefs to discuss prescriptives. He’ll visit South-Central Los Angeles, scene of last year’s riots, and then confront leaders of the entertainment industry about the violent images they retail to young people. Clinton is also expected to preview a major package of welfare reforms as part of his State of the Union address in January.
The black community is mobilizing as well. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is organizing a January summit of African-American leaders, headed by Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, to discuss strategies for combating violence. “The president’s speech in Memphis set the tone,” says Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil-rights pioneer. “I’m sick and tired of people saying they don’t have jobs, that they grew up in poverty. I don’t care how poor you are, there’s no way to justify what’s going on in many of these communities.”
The new rhetoric comes as polls show that Americans are more frightened and frustrated than ever about crime. According to political analyst William Schneider, Clinton gets worse ratings on crime than any other issue–even foreign policy. While crime is traditionally a Republican issue, the GOP isn’t faring any better than the Democrats. When an October CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll asked which party would do a better job on the crime problem, only one in three said the GOP. The numbers have set off a competition among politicians to reposition themselves on crime.
The scramble over Brady illustrates the changing political landscape. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole and a handful of NRA loyalists led a filibuster that nearly scuttled the bill. But seven GOP senators (including Strom Thurmond of South Carolina), sensing the tide of public opinion, trailed Dole all day on Nov. 20, pestering and cajoling. “There were a half-dozen Republicans who saw the light and said, ‘This is political suicide’,” said one Democratic Senate aide.
Dole relented after winning a couple of face-saving concessions. But in the House-Senate conference to work out a compromise (the House passed a slightly stricter version on Nov. 10), Democrats brazenly stripped the bill of the GOP’s amendments. An angry Dole stalled again, but Majority Leader George Mitchell vowed to call the entire Senate back after Thanksgiving, focusing more national attention on gridlocking Republicans. Dole ultimately settled for the thinnest of reeds, a promise from the Democrats to consider a bill next year that would weaken Brady.
The Senate’s $22 billion bill is also a departure from politics as usual. It proposes a sixfold increase in the amount Washington spends to help state and local governments fight crime, including $1.8 billion for programs to combat violence against women. The bill would also ban the manufacture and sale of 19 different semiautomatic assault weapons. Still, liberals say the package (which will go to a House-Senate conference committee early next year) is still heavy on punishments that have never proven effective. It extends the federal death penalty to 52 new offenses, including the killing of a poultry inspector. it also makes $3 billion for new prisons contingent on states’ adopting mandatory minimum sentences established by the federal government. Critics say that the lengthy sentences only clog overcrowded prisons with minor offenders. “Locking people up plays only a minor role in crime-reduction, and this bill exacerbates the crisis,” says Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project, a group that advocates alternative sentencing methods.
Liberals are laying some of the blame for the bill on Attorney General Janet Reno. Her appointment earlier this year raised hopes that Washington’s crime-fighting policies would take a more liberal tilt toward prevention and rehabilitation. The former Dade County, Fla., prosecutor opposed mandatory minimum sentences and expansion of the federal death penalty, stressing instead more “front end” prescriptives like programs for children. But Reno was missing in action on the crime-bill debate. Once considered a rising star, her political capital in Congress and within the administration has been depleted by revisionism about the Waco tragedy and other misadventures. She was also overwhelmed by lawmakers under pressure from voters impatient with remedies that involved a longterm commitment to prevention. In the end, Reno was as much a victim of the shifting political ground as the NRA.
Administration officials acknowledge they are scrambling for anything that might work. “We have a lot of humility on this subject,” said one White House aide. “We don’t know what causes crime. We have very little idea what deters it.” just as challenging for policymakers is the distorted fear of crime–often spawned by politicians, local television news and a tabloid-driven print media. Residents of many low-income urban areas are justifiably anxious about violence. Yet some crime;, like homicide and suburban burglary, seem to be on the decline. Before an honest national debate can begin, there will need to be some candid discussion about what the risks really are. ..MR.-
Congress passed the Brady bill, but further crime controls are still pending. How some of the proposals rate:
A ban on possession, sale or manufacture of 19 types of semiautos. Problem: common handguns cause-most deaths.
Anyone under 18 may not buy a handgun and may possess one only in limited cases. Wouldn’t stop illegal sales to kids.
Stricter enforcement would weed out some “kitchen table” dealers, who sell many of the guns used in crimes.
Adds 52 offenses to capital list, including drive-by shootings. But why fuel debate over rarely enforced penalty?
