issues2000

More headlines: Al Gore on Crime

(Following are older quotations. Click here for main quotations.)


Third Way: Tough on crime prevention & tough on crime itself

“When inmates are sent back to the streets unrehabilitated, unrepentant, and unskilled, then they are just going to commit more crime and go right back into prison,” Gore said. He cited the Bible several times, illustrating the problem of violence among young men by retelling the story of Cain & Abel. He argued that no amount of anti-crime legislation would work unless people took greater responsibility for their actions.

He cast himself as the purveyor of a third way who could rise above “old orthodoxies“ on crime fighting plans. ”We can’t go back to the finger-pointing and failed strategies that led to that steep increase in crime in the Bush-Quayle administration,“ he said. ”And we can’t go back to the old Democratic approach, which was tough on the causes of crime but not tough enough on crime itself.“ Several of these ideas were first discussed by Gore last July, when he called for longer sentences for all crimes committed with guns and for requiring photo-bearing gun licenses.

Source: James Dao, New York Times, p. A18 on 2000 election May 3, 2000

Gore: Bush fosters recidivism; need more rehabilitation

Gore said that as a result of Bush’s policies, Texas has experienced a 25% increase in the number of former inmates returned to prison for new crimes within three years of release. “When inmates are sent back to the streets unrehabilitated, unrepentant, and unskilled, then they are just going to commit more crime and go right back into prison,” Gore said. He did not suggest that Bush had been soft on crime, a position that would be hard to defend: in Bush’s five and a half years as governor, Texas has undertaken the nation’s largest prison-building program, executed a record number of criminals, lengthened sentences for many crimes, and incarcerated a rising number of juveniles. But Gore did say “I believe that we should demand that criminals get clean before they get out of jail. Bush seems content to keep pushing them out the same revolving door.”

Bush’s aides disputed Gore’s statistics on Texas recidivism. They also said violent crime in the state had fallen 20%, to a 20-year low.

Source: James Dao, New York Times, p. A18 on 2000 election May 3, 2000

Crime plan: ban guns in churches; 50,000 more police

Source: Press Release Apr 14, 2000

Education and fair policing will reduce black incarceration

I think that we ought to review the nature of the crimes that are included in the calculation of this three strikes and you’re out provision. I also think that we need to focus more on prevention, we need to give more alternatives to incarceration. We have to got to keep our neighborhoods and our communities safe. I think that community policing does work. I think that we need to add to it, provisions that will take race out of the equation in law enforcement.
Source: Democrat debate in Harlem, NYC Feb 21, 2000

Fight against domestic violence and for safe streets

The home should be a sanctuary, never a prison of brutality. I want to lead the fight against domestic violence, which is a leading reason women seek treatment for injury in America’s emergency rooms. And I want to lead the fight for safe communities, so that any woman can walk down any street in any city in America at any time, free from fear, and safe from assault.
Source: (Cross-ref from Civil Rights) Women for Gore speech, Washing Jun 14, 1999

Hire 50,000 more “community police officers”

One of the most essential weapons in the war against crime is our nation’s law enforcement - which is why Al Gore fought hard to enact the Clinton-Gore anti-crime bill that is putting 100,000 new police officers on the streets of America. He is fighting to hire and redeploy up to 50,000 more community police, and believes that is just the beginning of what we must do to invest in more police and stronger law enforcement.
Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/crime.html 5/16/99 May 16, 1999

Expand crime-fighting computer technology nationally

New crime-fighting technology has already proven its effectiveness. [Some] police now have laptop computers, so they can file reports from their cars and spend less time back in the office. [Many] officers have instant access to databases of criminal records, so that when they respond to a call, they are better informed, and much more effective. Al Gore has led federal efforts to share and expand this cutting-edge, crime-fighting technology with law enforcement around the country.
Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/crime.html 5/16/99 May 16, 1999

Curb juvenile crime by tough punishments

Unless we act now, the number of juveniles arrested for violent crimes will more than double by the year 2010. Al Gore advocates strong action to curb juvenile crime, such as banning convicted violent juveniles from owning guns for life, and using the resources of the FBI to break up violent teen gangs. “Young people must know that if they commit a violent crime, they will face tough punishment, and build a criminal record that could follow them throughout their lives,” says Gore.
Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/crime.html 5/16/99 May 16, 1999

Steady & relentless anti-crime plan has yielded results

It seemed [once] that the struggle against crime was insurmountable. But we came up with an approach that we applied steadily and relentlessly, and the problem has yielded; not fully, but with a smart, tough anti-crime plan that combines more punishment with more community police and with better prevention, we see, six years later, that the strategy is working even beyond our expectations. Around the country, in cities large and small, crime is now down to its lowest rates in 25 years.
Source: White House Briefing, Washington, DC Feb 8, 1999

New measures to protect victims of domestic violence

We must continue to confront the silent but sinister threat of domestic violence -- a plague which touches 840,000 women a year. Just two weeks ago, I was proud to announce new measures to protect the victims of domestic violence -- by helping police departments enforce protection orders from other states, and by making it dramatically easier to obtain new Social Security numbers -- for the thousands of women for whom safety can only be found in starting over.
Source: Speech to National Women’s Law Center Nov 19, 1998

Supports “Three Strikes -- You’re Out” law

Throughout his career, Al Gore has supported tough punishment to maintain law and order. He helped to make sure the Clinton-Gore anti-crime bill was the toughest Crime Bill in the nation’s history - including the “Three Strikes -- You’re Out” law to get career criminals off the streets for life.
Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/crime.html 5/16/99 May 16, 1999

Other candidates on Crime: Al Gore on other issues:
Former Presidents/Veeps:
George W. Bush (R,2001-2009)
V.P.Dick Cheney
Bill Clinton (D,1993-2001)
V.P.Al Gore
George Bush Sr. (R,1989-1993)
Ronald Reagan (R,1981-1989)
Jimmy Carter (D,1977-1981)
Gerald Ford (R,1974-1977)
Richard Nixon (R,1969-1974)
Lyndon Johnson (D,1963-1969)
John F. Kennedy (D,1961-1963)
Dwight Eisenhower (R,1953-1961)
Harry_S_TrumanHarry S Truman(D,1945-1953)

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Joe Scarborough
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Page last updated: Feb 21, 2022