October 25, 2007 -- Washington, DC– Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and author of the landmark 1994 Crime Bill, Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) unveiled today the most comprehensive anti-crime legislation in over a decade. The 2007 Biden Crime Bill builds upon the revolutionary approach of his 1994 legislation, while promoting new, innovative programs to focus on today’s problems.
n the 1990s, our nation was facing a coast-to-coast crime wave. As a response, Sen. Biden authored the historic 1994 Crime Bill, which is credited by many as driving down crime rates to the lowest in a generation. Unfortunately, due largely to cuts to programs contained in the 1994 Bill, our nation is now facing a similar crime crisis. Last month, the FBI released its 2006 crime report based on data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) database. For the second consecutive year, there were measurable increases in violent crime nationwide. This is the first time the crime rate has risen for two years in a row since the passage of the 1994 Biden Crime Bill, with violent crimes increasing 1.9 percent nationally. In 2005, the FBI found that murders were up 3.4 percent – the largest percentage increase in 15 years – with 16,692 murders in 2005 – the most since 1998.
“It should be a surprise to no one that crime is up for the second year in a row,” said Sen. Biden. “The federal government has taken its focus off of street crime since 9/11, asking law enforcement to do more with less. Fewer police on the street protecting communities, plus fewer FBI agents focused on crime control, plus fewer federal law enforcement dollars equals more crime – it's as simple that. We need to meet this problem head-on, with a comprehensive approach that blends traditional crime-fighting tools with 2007 technology.”
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