Issue Position: Crime

Issue Position

"Fighting crime is like cutting grass. In the summer I cut my grass on a Saturday and it looks great. I let it go for a week, it looks a little shaggy. Let it go for two weeks, I notice it. Let it go for a month, I have the weeds back." - Joe Biden

Joe Biden's Plan to Make America Safer

Hometown and Homeland Security: For more than two decades, Joe Biden has been a strong advocate in the struggle against crime as he believes safe streets and neighborhoods are fundamental to our nation's safety and security.

Joe Biden knows that it won't be a marine with night vision goggles who stops the next attack -- it will be a local cop in the right place at the right time.

He has worked to restore billions of dollars in funding to state and local law enforcement the Bush administration has cut.

In the Senate, Joe Biden will work to invest $10 billion a year for five years to keep America safe by:

* Funding 50,000 Cops and 1,000 FBI Agents:

In the 1990s, the Biden Crime Bill added 100,000 cops to America's streets. As a result, murder and violent crime rates went down eight years in a row. George Bush's cuts to the program have put America at risk and crime rates are back on the rise. Joe Biden wants to put 50,000 more cops on the street and add 1,000 more FBI agents to address the rise in crime and threats of terrorism.

* Imposing Real Port Security Measures: Only 5 percent of cargo entering our seaports are screened even though our ports are some the most vulnerable targets to terrorist attacks. Joe Biden supports screening 100 percent of containers entering our ports to prevent radiological and other dangerous materials from being smuggled into America.

* Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations: Joe Biden supports implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations in their entirety; we must work to make our ports, chemical plants, railways, and infrastructure more secure.

* Giving Better Tools To First Responders: America's first responders need interoperable communications equipment to allow them to easily communicate with each other and the military in the event of an emergency. Joe Biden supports increasing funding to provide first responders with the communications equipment they need to respond to another Katrina or 9/11.

* Focusing On Rehabilitation: Offenders reentering our communities lack sufficient monitoring, job skills, and housing. Two-thirds of people released from state prisons are re-arrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years commit crimes within three years of release from prison. Joe Biden authored the Second Chance Act to provide ex-offenders with housing, drug and alcohol treatment, job training, and other life skills, providing them with the skills they need to rejoin their families and communities.

Joe Biden: A Strong Crime Fighter

* Ending Violence Against Women: Joe Biden has often said the Violence Against Women Act is his proudest achievement in the Senate. The law strengthened the national network of shelters so that abused women had a place to go and provided funding for a national hotline that has served over 1.5 million women. Domestic violence rates have dropped by 50 percent since the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act, and rape has dropped by 60 percent. Joe Biden continues to be committed to this cause and is now working to provide legal services to women in need.

* The Biden Crime Law: Joe Biden wrote the legislation that put 100,000 cops on the streets, built drug courts to improve rehabilitation treatment for non-violent offenders and worked with community groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs and Police Athletic Leagues to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble, reducing crime eight years in a row.

* Protecting Children from Sex Offenders: Joe Biden has been standing up for our kids for years by writing legislation to create a national registry of sex offenders, increasing funding for Child Advocacy Centers, and by authoring the Adam Walsh Act to ensure convicted sex offenders do not slip through the cracks and go after our children.

* Fighting Drugs: Joe Biden has worked to increase penalties for dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, created the Drug Czar office in the White House, and was an important voice in classifying steroids as drugs and has worked to keep them out of the hands of students.

* Fighting Corporate Crime: Joe Biden recognizes that corporate criminals at corporations like Enron that wipe out families' savings through fraud and other criminal activity should be subject to stiff penalties. He has sponsored legislation requiring top executives to certify financial statements for public companies and imposing criminal penalties if those certifications are false.

* Making Criminals Serve Their Full Terms: Joe Biden has written legislation that provides funds to states for building prisons if they agree to keep their violent offenders behind bars for at least 85 percent of their sentence, currently state prisoners serve only 40 percent of their sentences behind bars on average.

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