Evolution of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
Most Americans regard the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 as the most comprehensive and far-reaching anti-crime bill in the country's history. The Act, which took up more than 1000 pages and an approximate $30 billion in costs, covered an overwhelming array of areas ranging from funding for late-night youth basketball programs to a ban on assault weapons. The bill received credit for the drastic drop in crime levels in the last quarter of the 1990s but was still viewed, by critics, as an unmatched boondoggle. Two decades later, the nation still feels the effect of the Violent Crime Control Act.
The Community Policing and the '100,000 Cops' Initiative
As has already been mentioned, the bill had substantial coverage and incorporated a variety of law-enforcement, crime-prevention and prison-upgrade elements (the Legal Dictionary, 2014). This text dwells particularly on the policy of grassroots/community policing, and the "100, 000 Cops" initiative, to which the bill allotted a substantial $8.8 billion in funds (Marion & Oliver, 2012, the Legal Dictionary, 2014). Using the aforementioned initiative as a case study, this text demonstrates the relevance of the process of public policy, which involves "problem identification, agenda setting, policy formulation, policy implementation, and policy evaluation," to the criminal justice system (Marion & Oliver, 2012 p. 432).
Clinton, in the words of Marion and Oliver (2012) promised to deploy "an additional 100,000 police officers to America's streets" in an initiative that sought to convince the American voter that, just like the Republicans, the Democrats could also be tough on the issue of crime (Marion & Oliver, 2012). Through the '100,000 cops' initiative, Clinton was able to not only shift the crime debate, but to also provide "the media and the public a clear message that cut through the complexities of federal crime policy" (Marion & Oliver, 2012, p. 436).
Problem Identification
The rate of violent crime in the U.S. was so high in the early years of the 1990s that the public had begun viewing crime as the most serious civic concern (Marion & Oliver, 2012). This was despite the passage of influential omnibus anti-crime bills by congress between 1984 and 1990 (The Legal Dictionary, 2014). Liberals and conservatives differed "on the best way to address the problem of criminal violence" (the Legal Dictionary, 2014, Para 2). Whereas liberals favored seeing more funds channeled towards crime-preventing social programs and the achievement of fairness in the justice system, conservatives put more emphasis on punishment, and wanted to see more funds directed towards prison building, the implementation of Three Strikes laws, and the withdrawal of the Habeas Corpus right from inmates on the death row (the Legal Dictionary, 2014).
It was evident that the methods of technology application, rapid response, and random patrols were doing little to prevent crime, giving rise to the question of 'what would effectively prevent crime' (Marion & Oliver, 2012). The broken windows theory by James Wilson and George Kelling brought forth the concept of community policing. 'Broken windows' in this context refers to the unfixed cues that send signals of neglect, on the part of law enforcers, to criminals (Marion & Oliver, 2012). The theory posits that an environment characterized by broken windows attracts minor crimes, and breed them to becoming more serious. The solution, therefore, lies in fixing the minor crimes. This can only be achieved if the police work hand in hand with the community to determine "who belongs to a neighborhood and who does not" (Marion & Oliver, 2012).
Policing practices began to shift from the traditional eschewing of citizen input to its appreciation through the formation and use of community-police partnerships, in the pursuit of solutions for mutually-identified concerns (Marion & Oliver, 2012). The type of grassroots policing used included strategic, neighborhood, weed-and-seed, and problem-oriented (Marion & Oliver, 2012).
Agenda Setting
With his presidential campaign prior to the 1992 general elections, Bill Clinton set the agenda for the fight against crime (The Legal Dictionary, 2014). He incorporated elements from both sides of the divide to produce a strong stance on criminal...
Police Intelligence: Rapidly Changing the Way Police Organizations Fight Crime Since the professional era of policing, the traditional role of the police officer in the United States has primarily been that of crime fighter. Law enforcement officers detect and arrest offenders to keep the public safe and until relatively recently, the job was pretty straightforward. The officer would walk his beat, talking to the community and acting to reassure them. If
Mexico faces an array of drug-related problems ranging from production and transshipment of illicit drugs to corruption, violence, and increased internal drug abuse. Powerful and well-organized Mexican organizations control drug production and trafficking in and through Mexico, as well as the laundering of drug proceeds. These organizations also have made a concerted effort to corrupt and intimidate Mexican law enforcement and public officials. In addition, the geographic proximity of
However, some gang members specialize in multiple criminal activities such as street robbery, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Street Gangs Street gangs are the major concern to parents, school administrators and the communities because they recruit students and the youths across the United States to enhance the growth of gang memberships. Street gangs are the most prevalent type of gangs in the United States because they influence a strong control in
Based on the foregoing considerations, it is suggested that the DCMP restructure their existing training programs and administration so that a more unified and centralized plan is in place, as well as providing for better instructor qualifications, evaluation, learning retention and more efficient and effective use of resources which are by definition scarce. These broad general issues were refined for the purposes of this study into the research questions stated
The lack of action over Rwanda should be the defining scandal of the presidency Bill Clinton. Yet in the slew of articles on the Clinton years that followed Clinton's departure from power, there was barely a mention of the genocide." The UN, pressured by the British and the U.S., and others, refused to use the word "genocide" during the event, or afterward when it issued its official statement of condemnation
and, so that brought in a whole new perspective. I had never realized the degree to which they were afraid of us and often feel as though - now the situation becomes very life threatening for them. Because often they don't know how to follow the protocol, how to properly respond to police officers. and, so it just supercharges the whole event." The training] gave us an opportunity to ask
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now