THE ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS SERVICE FOR THE CORRECTIONS PROFESSIONAL - Vol.24 No.24 - December 1, 1993

Sep 29, 2026

A December 1, 1993 issue of an independent news service focuses on a major U.S. Senate crime bill. Coverage details the Senate’s Nov. 19 approval and the bill’s “get-tough” package, including assault-weapons restrictions, expanded prisons and police staffing, treatment and rehabilitation elements, and debates over boot camps and mandatory sentencing. The issue also reports related state and policy items, such as impacts of laws, detention costs, AIDS protections, and juvenile-justice programming.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

THE ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS SERVICE FOR THE CORRECTIONS PROFESSIONAL

TOUGH-MINDED SENATE

ADOPTS TOUGH CRIME PACKAGE

BOOT CAMPS: Don't Work, Professor Argues

# THE ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS SERVICE FOR THE CORRECTIONS PROFESSIONAL Vol.24 No.24 December 1,1993 Page 1 $22.3 Billion: IN THIS ISSUE TOUGH-MINDED SENATE SENATE: Adopts Tough,But Costly,Crime Bill………………1 ADOPTS TOUGH CRIME PACKAGE BOOT CAMPS: Don't Work,Professor Argues…………………1 Costly,Sweeping Changes S.C.:DOC Enters Recycling Busines…………………………………4 The Senate on Nov.19 approved a huge and costly clampdown on crime aimed at executing OHIO: Burdened By Lawsuit…………………………………………………5 more criminals, curbing gun violence, treating FLORIDA:Costs High For Detaining Illegal………………………6 juvenile delinquents like adults, combatting preju- dice,protecting women, attacking drug abuse with CANADA:Protections Against AIDS Sought………………………6 more treatment and stiffer penalties, building new prisons and hiring thousands of additional police OJJDP:Offers Free Magazin……………………………………………6 officers. JOB LISTINGS…………………………………………………………………………………7 Culminating a two-week, tougher-than-thou bidding war,senators voted 95-4 to pass HR 3355, WASHINGTON REPORT……………………………………………………7 after replacing it with the text of their bill, S 1607. D.C.PRISON:More Officers Arrested On Drug Charges……………………………………………………10 The bill melds competing approaches to crime from both ends of the political spectrum: gun control and rehabilitation provisions from the left, stringent punishments and new prisons from Controversial Treatment: the right. The bill's top Democratic sponsor, Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. GIVE BOOT CAMPS THE (Del.), said the measure would end perennial parti- BOOT,"FSU PROFESSOR ARGUES san fights over crime by embracing ideas from both sides. Heavy-handed punishment may sound like the legal teeth the Florida Legislature is looking for But such a prediction may prove premature. to take the bite out of crime,but it doesn't work, Each side praised its own amendments and com- says a Florida State University (FSU)professor. plained about the other's, foreshadowing divisive fights that will continue during negotiations with "The get-tough approaches didn't work in the the House next year, possibly dooming the bill--0r 1980s and the early 1990s, and it won't work major portions of it. now," said FSU criminologist Thomas Blomberg. "Minimum mandatory sentences, military-style Conservative Sen. Phil Gramm(R-Texas) boot camps, programs such as 'Scared Straight' and calls the bill "the toughest crime bill ever passed in stiffer penalties for drug offenders haven't reduced American history." But, he added, "the gun con- the crime rate." trol provision in this bill is basically a cop-out." See BOOT CAMPS,page four) The bill would ban the manufacture,sale andpossession of 19 assault weapons. From the opposite end,liberal PaulWellstone(D-Minn.)struggled over whether tovote for a bill that includes many rehabilitationproposals he supports and many harsh penaltieshe disdains. "Sometimes I think there's more fear inthe chamber than there is in the community,"he said. Limit On Appeals Dropped Passage came after senators dropped propos-als to speed executions by limiting death penaltyappeals,known as habeas corpus petitions.Suchlimits were once deemed crucial to any anti-crimeeffort by Republicans,but conservatives and liberalscould not agree on how far to go.Arlen Specter(R-Pa.)brought a separate habeas corpus billto thefloor (S 1657),but senators killed it,65-34,puttingoff for another year a nettlesome issue that long hasevaded compromise. The big crime bill's ultimate fate,however,will be delayed until next year,when congressionalnegotiators will try to reconcile the Senate's billwith a much more limited set of House proposals,including one that would put 50,000 more policeofficers on the street. The delay was a setback for Judiciary Chair-man Biden,as well as for President Clinton,whohad both set out to enact a crime bill

FAQs

What did the Senate approve on Nov. 19, 1993?

The Senate approved a large, costly clampdown on crime, aimed at executing criminals, curbing gun violence, and reshaping juvenile and sentencing approaches, then passed the measure by a 95-4 vote.

Why does the article say boot camps may not reduce crime?

A Florida State University professor argues that “get-tough approaches” such as military-style boot camps and “Scared Straight” did not work in the 1980s and early 1990s, and will not work now.

What happens to appeals in death penalty cases according to this issue?

Senators dropped proposals to speed executions by limiting death-penalty appeals known as habeas corpus petitions, delaying agreement on how far to restrict those petitions.

Sep 29, 2026

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