Crime Control Digest - House Members Approve Anti-Crime Bill; Must Now Compromise With Senate

Sep 29, 2026

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Crime Control Digest compiles a law-enforcement focused news briefing on major anti-crime legislation and public-safety outcomes. It covers House approval of an anti-crime bill after rejecting provisions tied to using claims of racial bias in death-penalty appeals, and describes the Senate’s earlier version backed by the Administration. The issue also reports falling U.S. criminal victimizations in 1990, with statistics on reported versus unreported crimes and analysis of victimization rates by offense type and demographic group.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

HOUSE MEMBERS APPROVE ANTI-CRIME BILL; MUST NOW COMPROMISE WITH SENATE

Reject Ban On Assault Guns

CRIME VICTIMIZATIONS FELL

Number Up But Rate Stable

Who Gets Victimized?

# Crime ControlDigest AComprehensive and Independent News Summary for the Law Enforcement Professional Vol.25 No.43 ## HOUSE MEMBERS APPROVEANTI-CRIME BILL;MUST NOWCOMPROMISE WITH SENATE Reject Ban On Assault Guns The House on Oct.22 passed acomprehensive anti-crime bill after rejecting aprovision that would have allowed claims of racialbias to be used to challenge death sentences. The Senate,with Administration backing,passed its own anti-crime bill in July.The Housebill has drawn strong criticism from the WhiteHouse,but final passage of the measure on a 305-118 vote after three days of debate sets the stagefor the two chambers to begin work on a compro-mise package. The House bill would expand the use of theFederal death penalty,limit death sentence appeals,and provide more funds for state and local crimeprevention programs.An attempt to ban severaltypes of assault-style weapons was rejected duringwork on the bill Oct.16 and 17. The proposal to allow racial bias to beconsidered in death penalty appeals was rejected ona 223-191 vote after opponents claimed it wouldeffectively eliminate use of the death penalty. As drafted by the House Judiciary Commit-tee,the bill would have allowed convicts sentencedto death to challenge the penalty by citing statisticsfrom the local jurisdiction showing a pattern ofracial bias in the imposition of the death penalty. That provision was eliminated by an amend-ment offered by Rep.Bill McCollum(R-Fla.),whoargued that the bill "would end the death penalty inthe United States in every jurisdiction,and virtuallyall prosecutors across this country understand that." (See CRIME BILL,page eight) ISSN 0011-1295 October 28,1991 IN THIS ISSUE ANTI-CRIME BILL:Gets House OK…………………1 VICTIMIZATIONS:Dropped in 1990………………1 BJAHARVARD:Cooperating On Drug Fund Study....3 DRUG CZAR:Defends Police In L.A.Speech………4 ANIMAL ACTIVISTS:Senate Takes Action… …7 FTOs:NUTI Offering Course………… ………10 FBI:Hosts Meeting On Violent Crime… ………10 CALENDAR OF EVENTS…………… ……………10 ## CRIME VICTIMIZATIONS FELL 3.9 PERCENT IN 1990 Criminal victimizations throughout the U.S.fell 3.9 percent last year,the U.S.Justice Depart-ment's Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS)announcedOct.20.The Bureau said crimes against peopledeclined 3.6 percent in 1990 and crimes againsthouseholds dropped 4.4 percent. "The findings are a continuation of adownward trend in the number of criminalvictimizations that began a decade ago,"saidBureau Director Steven D.Dillingham."TheBureau's National Crime Victimization Surveyestimated that there were approximately 41.4million personal and household crimes in 1981,compared to 34.4 million in 1990. (Continued on page two) CRIME CONTROL DIGEST "Criminal victimization rates are also downsignificantly from those of the survey's first year in1973,"Dillingham noted."The rate of crimesagainst people in 1990 was 24.5 percent lower thanthe rate in 1973.The rate for household crimesduring the same period fell 26.1 percent." The survey measures crimes reported topolice as well as crimes the victims said no onereported to police.Almost two-thirds of the surveycrimes,including more than one-half of all violentcrimes,are not reported. Of all assaults during 1990--simple assaultsas well as aggravated assaults--47 percent werereported to law enforcement agencies,compared to43 percent in 1989.Fifty-nine percent of allaggravated assaults,the more serious form of thecrime,were reported to police during 1990,compared to 52 percent during 1989.(Simpleassaults include threats to do bodily harm andattacks that result in bruises or other minor injuriesor unspecified injuries with a hospitalization of lessthan two days.Aggravated assaults include allthreats or attacks by an armed assailant and attacksthat result in unspecified injuries requiring hospitalstays of two days or more or serious injuries,suchas broken bones or teeth or serious internalwounds.) During

FAQs

What did the House approve regarding the anti-crime bill?

The House passed a comprehensive anti-crime bill after rejecting a provision that would have allowed claims of racial bias to challenge death sentences.

How did 1990 crime victimizations change according to the report?

Criminal victimizations throughout the U.S. fell 3.9 percent in 1990, including declines in crimes against people and crimes against households.

Who tends to face higher victimization rates in the survey data?

Males, young people, blacks, Hispanics, residents of central cities, and the poor tend to have higher victimization rates than other groups.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Franzy