CRIME

Although the population of the U.S. increased by 44 percent since 1960, violent crime has increased by more than 500 percent. Indeed, a boy born in 1974 stands a greater chance of being a homicide victim than a soldier in WWII stood of dying in combat. Having said this, there is an obvious and urgent need to address violent crime in America and restore public safety to our nation's streets. I am committed to strengthening the criminal justice system and making America a safer place to live.

Unfortunately, liberals continue as they have for decades to focus their crime-fighting efforts on the sociological origins of criminal behavior and not the criminal behavior itself. According to them, those who commit crimes are not criminals, but victims -- of society, poverty, bigotry, etc., etc., etc. This belief is what motivates the liberals to want to invest in the failed social programs of the past, rather than on tough anti-crime measures.

If we are to make America's neighborhoods a safer place to live, we must focus our attention on punishing criminal behavior. Studies confirm that criminal violence in American society is primarily committed by a small group of chronic, violent offenders. In fact, 6 percent of all criminals commit about 70 percent of all violent crimes and are serving only an average of 38 percent of their sentences. These hard-core criminals often begin committing crimes as juveniles, then go right on committing crimes throughout their adult life even when on bail, probation, or parole.

Therefore, if we are to reduce violent crime in America, we must make sure that those responsible for such crimes go to jail and stay there for a long time -- in many cases, forever. With this in mind, we must operate under the assumption that people will change their behavior only if they believe that the costs of criminal behavior are too high. What I strongly support, therefore, is swift and sure justice with tough, mandatory sentences for criminals, including an effective and credible death penalty for particularly heinous individuals who snuff out or irrepairably damage the lives of innocent victims. We must also establish an effective juvenile justice reform system that will send a powerful message to young people that criminal behavior is intolerable and will be punished severely. Furthermore, all violent criminals need to be locked safely behind bars. To achieve this, adequate prison facilities are necessary so that violent offenders are not released due to a lack of space.

We must also ensure that violent criminals do not get off on technicalities by enacting a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule in evidence gathering. We need as well to change the laws to expedite deportation of criminal aliens who account for as many as 25 percent of inmates in our prison system.

America's criminal justice system is failing as a result of bad public policy enacted by liberals who care more about criminals than they do about victims. The American people are deserving of peace, justice, and order in our society. I will continue, therefore, to pursue intelligent, tough-minded public policies that provide a genuine response to the violent crime that is threatening the security of American citizens.