Policy Memo: The Bush Administration Record on Law Enforcement and Crime Prevention

George W. Bush ^ | September 13, 2004

[RWR8189]

MEMORANDUM
FROM: BC'04 POLICY DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION

President Bush has made combating crime a top priority of his administration. During his time in office, President Bush has launched unprecedented efforts to crack down on gun crime, rein in corporate fraud, and reduce criminal recidivism. His innovative law enforcement reforms earned President Bush the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police labor organization. Thanks to President Bush's efforts, the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low and Americans everywhere are living safer, less fearful lives. 

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. REDUCING CRIME - THE LOWEST CRIME RATE IN 30 YEARS

President Bush's policies have significantly reduced crime in America's communities. By toughening criminal penalties and vigorously enforcing existing laws, President Bush has ensured that dangerous criminals are off the streets and behind bars, doing hard time. During the time that President Bush's initiatives have been in place, the violent crime victimization rate has dropped 21 percent, and the streets of America's communities are safer.

• Violent Crime Victimization Rate At A 30-Year Low. The violent crime victimization rate is at a 30-year low. During President Bush's first three years in office, the violent crime rate dropped 21 percent from the last two years of the previous administration.  The violent crime victimization rate includes rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.  It represents the number of annual victimizations per 1,000 U.S. residents age 12 and older.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Rapes And Robberies Are Down. Robberies and rapes both dropped 27 percent in 2001-2002. Overall, the violent crime rate in 2002 was 23 per 1,000 residents, down from 25 in 2001 and 50 in 1993.
  [SOURCES: White House Press Release: "President Emphasizes Minority Entrepreneurship at Urban League; Remarks by the President to the 2004 National Urban League Conference," 07/23/2004. DOJ-BJS Report: "National Crime Victimization Survey: Criminal Victimization, 2002," August 2003 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv02.pdf.] 

2. CRACKING DOWN ON GUN CRIME AND PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE

Gun crime instills fear and takes lives, disrupting our communities. To make our streets and neighborhoods safer, President Bush has focused federal law enforcement resources on cracking down on gun crime. Thanks to the President's efforts, more state and federal prosecutors are targeting gun crime, gun laws that are on the books are being vigorously enforced, and Americans everywhere are living safer, less fearful lives. 

• Project Safe Neighborhoods. President Bush established Project Safe Neighborhoods, a federal-state partnership dedicated to targeting gun crime, in May of 2001. Through Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Bush Administration has committed over $1 billion in federal resources to hire more than 750 state and federal prosecutors specifically devoted to prosecuting gun crime, to support and train investigators, and to promote effective prevention efforts.
  • Due to lax enforcement, gun crime prosecutions dropped significantly during the eight years of the Clinton/Gore Administration. By vigorously enforcing existing gun laws through Project Safe Neighborhoods, President Bush has increased the number of defendants charged with firearms-related crimes by 68 percent.  Since Project Safe Neighborhoods was initiated in 2001, the violent crime victimization rate has dropped 21 percent.
  • At least 72 percent of Federal gun crime convictions under Project Safe Neighborhood have resulted in a prison sentence of three years or more.   
  
  
  
  
• Free Gun Locks Through Project Childsafe. Since 2001, President Bush has provided $80 million in funding for Project Childsafe, a program that provides free safety locks, which help to prevent the misuse of firearms by children, to gun owners.  To find information on local locations providing free locks, gun owners need only visit the Department of Justice's affiliated website at http://www.projectchildsafe.org.
  [SOURCES: White House Fact Sheet: "Project Safe Neighborhoods," May 14, 2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010514-2.html; DOJ Fact Sheet: "Project Safe Neighborhoods: America's Network Against Gun Violence," 01/30/2003, http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2003/013003psnfactsheet.htm; DOJ Press Release: "[John] Ashcroft Announces New Project Safe Neighborhood Records in Fighting Gun Crime, December 11, 2003, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/December/03_ag_685.htm; Budget of the United States Government, Department of Justice, Fiscal Year 2005, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/justice.htm; "New Findings on ATF Criminal Enforcement," Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University, http://trac.syr.edu/tracatf/newfindings/current/ (accessed August 17, 2004);  Project Childsafe website, http:www.projectchildsafe.org.]

3. COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Each year, 600,000 to 800,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders as slaves and commercial commodities. It is believed that more than 80 percent of the victims of trafficking are women and girls, and that approximately 70 percent are forced into sexual servitude. Because human trafficking crimes are a particularly egregious affront to human dignity, President Bush has made confronting and combating the scourge of international trafficking in persons a top priority of his Administration.

• Trafficking Victim Protection Act. President Bush signed into law the Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003. The Act initiated a new information campaign to combat sex tourism, created a new civil action allowing trafficking victims to sue their traffickers in federal district court, and made it easier for trafficking victims and their family members to become eligible for federal benefits and services.
• PROTECT Act. President Bush signed into law the PROTECT Act of 2003, which stiffens penalties for sex tourists, those running sex tourism operations, and pedophiles.
• Increased Criminal Prosecutions. Since January of 2001, the Justice Department has successfully charged 150 separate defendants with trafficking and secured 107 convictions - triple the number of charges and double the number of convictions from the last three years of the Clinton Administration.  At least 78 of the cases brought by the Justice Department involved sex-trafficking allegations.
• Operation Predator. The Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Predator in the summer of 2003 to identify, investigate, and arrest child predators, including human traffickers and international sex tourists. In the last twelve months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 3,200 individuals nationwide who were involved in or supporting illicit trafficking activities.
  • Michael Clark was the first international child sex tourist arrested by ICE under the new provisions of the PROTECT Act. Clark engaged or attempted to engage in illicit sexual conduct with as many as 40 to 50 young Cambodian boys during his numerous trips to the country. He was sentenced in June 2004 to 97 months in prison.
• Spurring International Efforts. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2003, President Bush called on nations of the world to enact laws criminalizing human trafficking. In FY 2003, the United States provided $91 million in funds to 235 anti-trafficking programs in 90 countries combating international trafficking (up from 118 programs in 55 countries in FY 2001). Between 2001 and 2004, the Bush Administration has invested over $295 million in international anti-trafficking efforts.
• Domestic Support For Anti-Trafficking Efforts. During the first three years of the Bush Administration, the federal government provided over $35 million dollars to support dozens of local organizations in providing critical services to trafficking survivors. In 2004, the Justice Department provided $4.5 million to fund shelters where trafficking survivors can take refuge while they seek further assistance.
• Victim Assistance. The Bush Administration has expanded and streamlined federal recovery assistance for trafficking survivors, making it easier for them to receive medical care, housing, food stamps and other necessities. In 2003 alone, over 500 trafficking victims rescued from trafficking operations were provided with immigration benefits and federal recovery assistance.
  • T Visas. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, signed by President Bush, created the new "T visa" for trafficking victims who are rescued from trafficking operations within the United States. Individuals who receive T visas are permitted to remain in the United States up to 3 years, and may then apply for lawful permanent residency under existing statues. The United States is currently the only country in the world that offers a path to permanent residency for trafficking survivors.
    [SOURCES: White House Policies In Focus: "Human Trafficking – A New Form of Slavery," 07/16/04, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/traffic/index.html; Statement by WH Press Secretary, 12/19/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031219-11.html; White House Fact Sheet: "Operation Predator," 07/07/2004, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040707-10.html; DOJ Report: Assessment of SU.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons, June 2004, http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/wetf/us_assessment_2004.pdf; Statement of Alex Acosta Before Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, House Committee on Government Reform, 07/08/2004, http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/DoJ%20testimony.pdf; White House Press Release: "President Bush Addresses United Nations General Assembly," 09/23/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030923-4.html; White House Press Release, "President Announces Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking," 07/16/2004, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040716-11.html.]

4. COMBATING GANG AND YOUTH VIOLENCE

Gang and youth violence robs our youngest citizens of their childhoods – and, all too often, their lives. To solve the problems associated with youth violence, it is not enough to be tough on criminals. President Bush has therefore implemented additional initiatives that focus on shutting off the pipeline that delivers new members into gangs. National statistics on gang murders have anomalously ticked up in recent years, but President Bush's strategies have produced an overall decrease in youth violence, and many cities are reporting progress in the war against gangs.

• Violent Youth Crime Rate Lowest In 22 Years. The per capita serious violent youth crime rate in 2002 was 11.2, the lowest rate in 22 years.
  • Only 16.5 percent of serious violent crime in the United States involved juveniles in 2002, down from 23.2 percent in 2001.
• Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative. The Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII) provides resources to participating cities to institute programs to comprehensively trace the origin of firearms used during the commission of crimes, with special focus on crimes involving youth and juvenile offenders. YCGII provides law enforcement officials detailed information about the supply chain of firearms in their jurisdictions, enabling them to better focus their resources on interdicting illegal firearms and combating their use by gangs and juveniles. President Bush has expanded the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative from 37 cities in 2001 to 60 cities in 2004, and has requested an additional $16.2 million in his FY 2005 budget to extend the program to an additional twenty cities (for a total of 80).
• Project Sentry. President Bush implemented Project Sentry in 2002, a partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to target and reduce violence in our nation's schools through a combination of crime prevention education and strict law enforcement and prosecution. The initiative provides funding to hire additional state and federal prosecutors to focus on youth gun violence, particularly in schools, and to create task forces to combat juvenile gun crime. The initiative has received more than $76 million in federal funding since it was established by President Bush in 2002, and the President's FY 2005 budget calls for an additional $28.8 million in funding.
• Mentoring Programs. To target the root cause of gang violence, President Bush has strongly supported community programs that provide mentoring to at-risk youth and teach them the important difference between right and wrong. Key programs include: 
  • The Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which supports community organizations that focus on reducing substance abuse among youth. President Bush requested $80 million in his FY 2005 budget to fund an additional 100 new community coalitions.
  • The Safe and Drug Free Schools program, a mentoring initiative that was reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act, specifically targets at-risk youths, aiming to improve their academic achievement and curb destructive behaviors. President Bush has called to increase program funding for the program to $275 million in FY 2005.
  • The Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program, a grant program that aims to reduce the profound effects the physical absence of a parent can have on a child's development by providing mentors to the children of prisoners. Since the program was instituted in 2003, the $450 million initiative has provided mentors to approximately 6,000 kids and is expected to serve additional 33,000 youths in 2004.
    [SOURCES: "Table 2.14. Circumstances, 1998-2002," Crime in the United States – 2002, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/02cius.htm; "Caught in the Crossfire: Arresting Gang Violence By Investing in Kids," Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 06/01/2004, http//www.fightcrime.org/reports/gangreport.pdf; "BEH 4: Youth Victims and Perpetrators of Serious Violent Crimes," America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2004, http://www.childstats.gov/ac2004/beh4.asp; "ATF Snapshot 2001," Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 02/14/2001, http://www.atf.gov/about/snap2001.htm;  "ATF Snapshot 2004," Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 04/29/2004, http://www.atf.gov/about/2004snap.pdf; DOJ Press Release: "Department of Justice FY 2005 Budget Release; President's Request Supports 19% Increase for Department's Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Defense Efforts," 02/02/2004, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/February/04_ag_062.htm; White House Press Release: "Project Safe Neighborhoods Fact Sheet; The President's Plan to Promote Safe Neighborhoods," 05/14/2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/05/20010514-2.html; Brochure: "Project Sentry," United States Attorney's Office – Eastern District of Michigan, http://www.psnworks.org/ProjectSentryBrochure.pdf; Budget of the United States Government, Department of Justice, Fiscal Year 2005; DOJ FY 2004 Budget Summary - " Community Oriented Policing Services," http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2004summary/pdf/pg135-137.pdf; DOJ FY 2003 Budget Summary - " Community Oriented Policing Services," http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2003summary/pdf/ojp-cops-bs.pdf; DOJ FY 2002 Budget Summary - " Community Oriented Policing Services," http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2002summary/pdf/ojp_cops.pdf; "Summary: FY 2004 National Drug Control Budget," Office of National Drug Control Policy, February 2004, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/budgetsum04/budget_highlights.pdf; "President's Outline for Education Spending in FY2005," American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/ppo/funding/efy05edapprops.html; HHS Press Release, "President Announces Mentoring Grants for Children of Prisoners" 08/03/2004, http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040803a.html; White House Press Release, "President Delivers 'State of Union,'" 01/28/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html.]

5. PREVENTING AND PUNISHING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

President Bush has made reducing violence against women a key priority of his Administration. Under President Bush, the federal government has taken significant steps to raise public awareness about violence against women, and has enhanced measures to protect women from violence and exploitation.

• Increased Funding. President Bush has increased funding for the Department of Justice's program to reduce violence against women to historic levels. In the FY 2002 budget, the President secured a more than $100 million increase in funding, from $288 million to $390 million (35 percent).  Funding in each subsequent budget has remained at similar, historically high levels.
• Increased Criminal Prosecutions. In conjunction with this historic increase of funding to combat violence against women, President Bush implemented a policy of zero tolerance for domestic violence. Federal prosecutions of crimes for violence against women increased by 35 percent from 2001 to 2002 (the most recent time period for which data is currently available).
• Laci And Connor's Law. In many parts of the country, homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. In April of 2004 President Bush acted to better protect pregnant women from violent crime by signing into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Connor's Law. The law enhances legal protections for pregnant women by acknowledging the common-sense proposition that when a crime of violence against a pregnant woman kills or injures her unborn child, there are two victims and two offenses that should be punished.
• Family Justice Center Initiative. President Bush has acted to shelter women from domestic violence by initiating the Family Justice Center Initiative, which provides funding for state and local governments to establish comprehensive service centers for victims of violence. Service centers provide victims with medical care, counseling, law enforcement assistance, faith-based services, social services, employment assistance, and housing assistance. In FY 2004, the Bush Administration awarded $20 million in grants to 12 communities.
• Crime Victims' Rights Amendment. President Bush has endorsed and worked hard to pass the bipartisan Crime Victims' Rights Amendment. The amendment which would protect the right of crime victims to be present and heard at public proceedings, while fully safeguarding the constitutional rights of defendants.
  [SOURCES: White House Fact Sheet: "Preventing Domestic Violence," 10/08/03, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031008.html;  Department of Justice, State & Local Assistance Programs Budget Summaries – FY 2002-2005, at http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2002summary/pdf/ojp_state_and_local.pdf;  http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2003summary/pdf/SNL-sum.pdf;  http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2004summary/pdf/pg119-121.pdf; and,  http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2005summary/pdf/p175-179.pdf;  White House Press Release: "President Bush Signs Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004," 04/01/2004, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040401-3.html; House Report No. 108-420, Part 1 (2004); DOJ Press Release: "Fact Sheet: The President's Family Justice Center Initiative," 10/08/2003, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pressreleases/FJCIfacts.htm; DOJ Press Release: "[John] Ashcroft Announces $20 Million for Communities Through President Bush's Family Justice Center Initiative," 07/21/2004, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/July/04_opa_499.htm; "National Crime Victims' Rights Week, 2004," 04/17/04, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040417-1.html.]

6. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN

National commitment is needed to address the serious problem of child abuse and exploitation and to provide for the safety and security of each young person in our society. President Bush has promoted effective policies to protect our most vulnerable citizens – children - from harm while strengthening and supporting families.

• Unborn Victims Of Violence Act. President Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act into law in April 2004, which provides legal protection for unborn children injured or killed during the commission of federal crimes against pregnant women.
• AMBER Alert. President Bush signed into law the PROTECT ACT, which provides grants to states to expand and improve the National Amber Alert Program.  Two years ago, only nine states had AMBERT Alert plans. Now, all 48 continental states have state-wide plans.
  • The program has helped find 74 missing children in the past year, and 134 since the first use of AMBER Alerts.
• Child Internet Safety Legislation. President Bush signed into law the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002, which created a safe internet domain with monitored content approved exclusively for children. Parents can now let their children explore and learn from the resources of the Internet, secure in the knowledge that they will be safe from inappropriate material.
• Doubled Funding For Increased Efforts To Deter Obscenity Crimes. President Bush has doubled funding for Department of Justice programs focused on fighting child pornography and adult obscenity from $21 million in FY 2001 to $42 million in FY 2005. Programs such as the Innocent Images Initiative and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigate child predators who use the Internet to prey on children.
• Safe and Bright Future For Children Initiative. In 2003, President Bush, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services, created the Safe and Bright Future for Children Initiative, which provides treatment and support for children affected by domestic violence and aims to prevent the cycle of violence from continuing from one generation to the next. This year, Health and Human Services will award $5 million in grants to community and faith-based organizations helping domestic abuse-affected children.
• PROTECT Act. President Bush signed into law the PROTECT Act of 2003, which strengths child pornography laws and improves law enforcement's ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute pedophiles and other child predators.
• Support For Anti-trafficking Efforts. President Bush has advanced the fight against trafficking in children by increasing funding for anti-trafficking programs and calling on the United Nations to focus international efforts on stamping out this abhorrent practice. Between 2001 and 2004, the Bush Administration invested over $330 million in domestic and international anti-trafficking efforts. It is estimated that half of the 600,000 to 800,000 persons trafficking internationally each year are boys and girls under the age of 18.
  [SOURCES: White House Press Release: "President Bush Signs Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004," 04/01/2004, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040401-3.html; White House Policy in Focus: "Protecting Our Children," 04/30/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/children/action.html; Press Release: "First Anniversary of National Amber Alert Program Recognized by the Polly Klaas Foundation," The Polly Klaas Foundation, 04/30/2004, http://www.amberalertnow.org/release.html; White House Press Release: "President Bush Signs Child Internet Safety Legislation; Remarks by President at Bill Signing of the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002, 12/04/2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20021204-1.html; Budget of the United States Government, Department of Justice, Fiscal Year 2005, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/justice.html; White House Fact Sheet: "Preventing Domestic Violence," 10/08/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031008.html; HHS Press Release: "HHS Launches Effort to Help Children Who Witness Domestic Violence," 10/08/2003, http://www.os.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031008.html; President's Signing Statement for S. 151, Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003, 04/30/2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030430-13.html; White House Press Office: "President Announces Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking," 07/16/2004, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040716-11.html.]

7. COMBATING DRUG CRIME AND USE

Drug use in America is decreasing, especially among young people, but use levels are still too high. Drug use wreaks havoc on families and neighborhoods and destroys people's ambitions and hopes. Each year, drugs cost our nation almost $15 billion and are directly implicated in the deaths of nearly 20,000 Americans a year. For these reasons, President Bush has made reducing drug addiction a priority of his Administration. President Bush has issued a multifaceted National Drug Control Strategy to limit the drug supply, to reduce demand, and to provide addicts with effective and compassionate drug treatment – with a goal of reducing use by 10 percent over two years and 25 percent over five years. During the first two years that these strategies were in place, teenage illicit drug use dropped 11 percent, with some drugs, like LSD, dropping to record low levels of use.

• National Drug Control Policy. In February 2002, President Bush implemented a National Drug Control Strategy that focuses on preventing drug use, treating drug users, and disrupting the drug trafficking market.
  • Drug Education and Counseling. To prevent drug use among young people, President Bush funded the Drug-Free Communities Program, the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program, the Parents Drug Corps Initiative, and the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign – programs aimed at preventing and eliminating youth drug use.
  • Supporting Drug Courts. President Bush has increased funding for the Drug Courts Program, which helps to reduce drug crime recidivism. The drug court program provides offenders with meaningful and effective alternatives to incarceration, using the coercive power of the court to mandate and enforce drug abstinence and alter the behaviors of drug-dependent defendants by employing a combination of clear expectations, escalating sanctions, mandatory drug testing, treatment, and aftercare programs. An evaluation of the 17,000 annual drug court graduates found that 73 percent remained free of arrest for at least 2 years. The FY 2005 budget provides an 84 percent increase in funding for drug courts, to $70 million.
• Exceeded The President's Two-Year Drug Reduction Goal. The Bush Administration exceeded the President's 2002 goal of reducing illegal drug use by 10 percent in two years. Youth drug use declined 11 percent between 2001 and 2003, and 400,000 fewer youth are using drugs.
• Majority Of Public Schools Drug-Free In 2002. A majority of public schools were reported as drug-free in 2002, the first time ever in the annual Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse study.
• "Access to Recovery" Initiative.  President Bush implemented "Access to Recovery," a three-year, $600 million substance abuse initiative that provides vouchers to individuals seeking drug and alcohol treatment from community or faith-based organizations. The President's FY 2005 budget requests $200 million funding for this program, double the amount of the appropriation for FY 2004.
• Increased Enforcement. The Department of Justice has initiated a comprehensive six-part drug enforcement strategy to identify and target drug manufacturers and distributors for investigation and prosecution. Pursuant to this initiative, the federal government has:
  • Dismantled or disrupted 897 drug trafficking organizations since 2001.
  • Seized 8,518,661 pounds of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in the past three years, a 13 percent increase from the previous administration.
• Stepped-Up Interdiction Efforts.  To help cut off drugs at their source, the President's FY 2005 budget includes $2.6 billion for drug interdiction, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2004.
  • Internationally, the Administration continues to target the supply of illegal drugs in source countries.  The Administration is requesting $731 million in dedicated funds in 2005 for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative to be applied in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panama.
  • The deployment of additional manpower and Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) technology at US ports of entry has strengthened law enforcement's counter-drug effectiveness at the border.  NII narcotics seizures have increased nearly eight times since President Bush came into office, from 131 in 2000 to 1,029 in 2003.
  • Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, domestic drug interdiction efforts have largely been administered by the Customs and Border Protection Directorate.
  • The Administration has coordinated multi-agency drug interdiction efforts at the 317 ports of entry. Since the creation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2003, more than 3 million pounds of illegal narcotics have been seized and 1,239 individual arrested during drug operations at home and abroad.
    [SOURCES: "2004 National Drug Control Strategy," Office of National Drug Control Policy, March 2004, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs04/2004ndcs.pdf; " 2002 National Drug Control Strategy," Office of National Drug Control Strategy, February 2002, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/03ndcs/pages1_30.pdf; "2003 National Drug Control Strategy," Office of National Drug Control Strategy, February 2003, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/strategy2003.pdf; "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VII: Teens, Parents, and Siblings," August 2002, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, http://www.casacolumbia.org/pdshopprov/files/119563.pdf;  Budget of the United States Government, Department of Justice, Fiscal Year 2005, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/justice.htm; "FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report," Department of Justice, January 2003, http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/annualreports/ar2002/index.html; "FY 2003 Performance and Accountability Report," Department of Justice, January 2004, http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/annualreports/ar2003/p2sg2.htm; DOJ Fact Sheet: "The Bush Administration Working to Make America Safer: Getting Illegal Drugs Off the Street," http://www.usdoj.gov/01whatsnew/safer_america/illegal_drugs.html (accessed 08/21/2004);  "Federal Drug Seizures," Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online, http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/1995/pdf/t436.pdf; Testimony of Michael Garcia Before the House Government Reform Committee, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, 07/22/2004; U.S. Customs and Border Protection FY 2003 Performance and Annual Report, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/ndcs04/strategy_fs.pdf.]

8. COPS: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - AND THEN SOME

• Exceeded COPS Hiring Mandate By 18 Percent. The original COPS Hiring Mandate was to place 100,000 new officers on the street. President Bush has met and exceeded that goal. As of March 2004, the Department of Justice has provided grants for hiring over 118,000 new law enforcement officers.
• Increased Flexibility In Hiring. The President has called for increased flexibility in the use of federal law enforcement funds by state and local governments. In his FY 2005 budget, President Bush has proposed combining the funds from several purpose-specific grants - including COPS grants - into a more flexible Justice Assistance Grants Program that would allow state and local law enforcement officials to tailor federal funds to local needs. The President's FY 2005 budget calls for $508 million for the Justice Assistance Grants program - more than four times the amount of funds allocated expressly to COPS hiring in FY 2004.
  [SOURCES: DOJ/COPS Office Press Release: "U.S. Department of Justice Announces $27.1 Million in Grants to Add Officers to America's Streets; 85 Communities Receive Funds to Hire 370 Officers," 03/11/2004, http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/; Budget of the United States Appendix: FY 2005, Department of Justice, pages 694 and 698, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy05/pdf/appendix/JUS.pdf; Budget of the United States Appendix: FY 2004, Department of Justice, page 191,  http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy04/pdf/budget/justice.pdf.] 

9. REHABILITING PRISIONERS TO PREVENT RECIDIVISM

Approximately two-thirds of ex-offenders are rearrested within three years of release. The crimes committed by recidivists impose significant costs on America's communities, particularly urban communities. To help ex-offenders straighten out their lives and stay away from crime, President Bush has boldly proposed new programs that will provide transitional services and job training to aid ex-offenders in re-entering and contributing to their home communities.

• Prisoner Reentry Initiative. In his 2004 State of the Union address, President Bush proposed the Prisoner Reentry Initiative, a four-year, $300 million program that will provide financial assistance to community organizations that provide education, training, employment, mentoring, and support to recently released individuals.
  
• Reentry Courts. The Department of Justice has also supported Reentry Courts. Much like drugs courts, reentry courts are designed to oversee ex-offenders' return to society by instituting aggressive transition oversight, graduated sanctions, and rewarding positive behaviors.
  
• Prison Rape Reduction Act. In September 2003, President Bush signed into law the Prison Rape Reduction Act, which authorizes $40 million in grants to states annually for seven years to prevent prison rapes. The Act creates a national commission to recommend standards on reducing and preventing rape in our country's prisons and jails.
  [SOURCES: White House Fact Sheet: "Protecting Communities by Helping Returning Inmates Find Work," 01/23/04, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040123-4.html; Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reentry; White House Press Release: "Statement on Prison Rape Elimination Act," 09/04/03, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030904-9.html.]

10. CRACKING DOWN ON CORPORATE FRAUD AND CORRUPTION

After fraudulent corporate practices rooted in the irrational exuberance of the late 1990s began to surface in the months following September 11th, President Bush worked with an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority in Congress to take decisive action to restore honesty and integrity to America's corporate boardrooms.  President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the most far-reaching reform of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He has more than doubled the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and has established an interagency Corporate Fraud Task Force to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, recover the proceeds of those crimes, and hold corporate criminals to account.  The measures that have been implemented by President Bush say to every dishonest corporate leader in America: you will be exposed and punished; the era of low standards and false profits is over; no boardroom in America is above or beyond the law.

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002. President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the most far-reaching reform of American business practices since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Act does several things:
  • Requires management to give investors a true and fair picture of assets, liabilities and income.  CEOs and CFOs must personally vouch that all information provided is true and accurate, and penalties are provided to give them appropriate incentives to run clean shops.
  • Toughens criminal penalties for fraud and provides new investigative tools, ensuring that corporate misdeeds will be found and punished.
  • Creates a new independent oversight board for the accounting industry.
• Doubled The SEC's Budget. President Bush has more than doubled the SEC's budget since 2001, from $424 million to $893 million, allowing for the hiring of more than 840 new accountants, attorneys, and examiners to protect investors by rooting out corporate fraud.
• Corporate Fraud Task Force. President Bush created the Corporate Fraud Task Force in 2002.  Over 700 violators have been charged in the past two years and more than 300 convictions or guilty pleas secured, including more than 25 former CEOs.  75 percent of convictions secured by the Task Force have resulted in jail time.  More than $1 billion in forfeited funds has been recovered and returned to defrauded creditors and investors.
• Banned Late Trading By Mutual Funds. In response to the mutual fund scandals arising out of unfair trading practices, the SEC has adopted rules requiring additional disclosure and banning late trading.
  [SOURCES: White House Press Release: "Remarks by the President at Signing of H.R. 3763, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002," 07/30/02, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/07/20020730-1.html; Budget of the United States Government: Appendix, Fiscal Year 2003, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy03/pdf/app31.pdf; Budget of the United States Government: Appendix, Fiscal Year 2005, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy05/appendix.html; Prepared Remarks of John Ashcroft, "Reliant Indictment Announcement," 04/08/2004, http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2004/040804ag.htm; $35 million FERC, $105 million CFTC -- Corporate Fraud Task Force, "First year Report to the President, pp. 2.2-2.3, 07/22/2003; $161 million Enron – DOJ Press Release, "Kenneth Rice Pleads Guilty," 07/30/2004; $750 million WorldCom --  The Clarion Ledger, "WorldCom To Pay Fine of $750 million to Investors," 07/08/2003; SEC Press Release: "SEC Takes Steps to Address Late Trading, Market Timing and Related Abuses," 12/03/2003, http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-168.htm.]

11. SUPPORTING THE DEATH PENALTY

President Bush firmly believes that the death penalty deters crime and saves innocent lives. Because the death penalty is the ultimate sanction applied by our government, it should be reserved for violent and heinous crimes, and used only when the process is fair and guilt is certain. President Bush has taken several steps to ensure that the death penalty is administered swiftly, effectively, and only to punish those who are guilty.

• Enhanced DNA Testing. In March 2003, President Bush implemented the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology initiative, which commits more than $1 billion over five years to provide grants to states to improve DNA testing technology and to reduce the DNA testing backlog. President Bush requested $236 million for this initiative in 2005.
  • The DNA initiative provides increased access to post-conviction DNA testing for state and federal inmates who believe they have been wrongly convicted.
• Death Penalty For Terrorists. President Bush has called on Congress to enact legislation making the death penalty available for all terrorist crimes that result in death. Under current law, many drug-related and sexual abuse offenses that result in death qualify for the death penalty, yet some terrorism-related offenses that result in death do not. The measure proposed by the President would correct this disparity.
  [SOURCES: White House Fact Sheet: "President Bush Calls for Renewing the USA PATRIOT ACT," 04/19/04, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040419-5.html; White House Policies in Focus: "Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology," March 2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/justice/dna_initiative_policy_book.pdf.]

12. IMPROVING LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY

The implementation of technological developments has proved instrumental in helping law enforcement solve crimes, identify criminals, and ensure that the guilty are punished while the innocent go free. During his time in office, President Bush has demonstrated his commitment to improving law enforcement technology for crime prevention. 

• Improving The Accuracy And Reliability Of The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). During the first three years of the Bush Administration, the Department of Justice provided over $100 million to states to improve their criminal history records and to implement instant background checks.
  • At the direction of the Attorney General, improvements to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) have increased the "immediate determination rate" to 91 percent in 2003 (from 71 percent in 2001).
• Realizing The Full Potential Of DNA Technology In Solving Crimes. The Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology initiative provides more than $1 billion over five years to fund DNA research, development, and testing as well as for use in identifying missing persons. It also provides grants to states to clear the backlog of unanalyzed DNA sample and to provide post-conviction testing to verify criminal guilt.
  [SOURCES: Budget of the United States Government, Department of Justice, Fiscal Year 2005, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/justice.htm; DOJ Press Release: "Justice Department Releases 2001-2002 Operations Report for The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, 05/29/2003, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/May/03_ag_314.htm; FBI Report: National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) 2001/2002 Operations Report, page 24, May 2003, http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/nics/oper-rpt/oper-rpt-2001-2.pdf;  White House Press Briefing, June 29, 2001; White House Policies in Focus: "Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology," March 2003, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/justice/dna_initiative_policy_book.pdf.]