Dole Advocates No Parole for Violent Crimes

Outlining his anti-crime agenda, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole declared Saturday that he would work to end parole for violent criminals, try violent juveniles as adults, ease rules of evidence and expand prison capacity by “as much as it takes to put space between hard-core criminals and law-abiding citizens.”

“It’s time to get serious about restoring order to our streets,” said Dole, the Senate majority leader and presumptive GOP presidential nominee. “We will have justice in America.”

Dole spoke to several hundred spectators in front of the Omaha Police Department headquarters after laying a wreath in front of the building’s memorial to the city’s 22 police officers killed in the line of duty.

He was accompanied by Jimmy Wilson Sr., father of the most recent victim, 24-year-old Jimmy Wilson Jr., who was slain while making a routine traffic stop on Aug. 20, 1995.

The murder of Wilson, a 24-year-old Creighton University accounting graduate and rookie officer, deeply touched the city. His father and grandfather were police officers before him.

Wilson’s killer was sentenced to life in prison last week.

“The Wilson family has given more to fight crime than anyone could ask,” Dole said. “Let’s talk about what the rest of us can do.”

Later, addressing a state GOP convention in Louisville, Ky., Dole spoke in extraordinarily personal terms as he sought to counter charges that Republicans lack compassion.

Recalling his humble roots and the war injuries that forced him to spend 39 months in the hospital, Dole said he emerged with “a whole new attitude about education, a whole new attitude about life, with a new appreciation for people with disabilities.”

“And I make this point,” he added, “because sometimes people say the Republicans don’t know anything . . . they’re all rich.”

That is not true, Dole said heatedly.

“We’re just as caring and just as compassionate as the other party, except we have better ideas,” he said.

Dole vowed to take to the White House “a lot of caring, a lot of compassion, a lot of concern about people who have real problems.”

“The government does have some responsibilities,” he said. “The government does do some good things, and has done some good things and will continue to do some good things.”

Dole’s anti-crime speech builds on an address earlier this year in which the Kansan attacked President Clinton’s judicial appointments, calling many of them liberals who too often issue rulings biased toward criminal defendants.

It was Dole’s second major policy address of the week.

On Thursday, he delivered his first foreign policy speech of the campaign.

Speaking under blue skies on a crisp day with a group of police officers behind him, Dole acknowledged that only a week ago the FBI reported a 4% drop in violent crime, a trend that delighted the White House.

But even as Dole noted the decrease in the number of murders, to about 21,400 in 1995 from more than 23,000 the previous year, he scoffed:

“That’s supposed to be the good news. But frankly, when 21,000 killings a year seems like good news, we’re losing perspective. Twenty-one thousand is not good news to me.”

According to Dole, violent criminals today are “only one-fifth as likely to serve their full sentence” as they were 30 years ago.

“Convicted rapists serve, on average, only five years in prison, drug traffickers less than two,” he said. “And when they get there, their idea of hardship is not having a remote control for their color TV.”

Dole reiterated his earlier criticism of “liberal judges” appointed by Clinton and said: “In a Dole administration, only conservative judges need apply.”

Dole claimed credit for having pushed through the Senate last week a measure that requires states to inform local officials about the presence of convicted sex offenders in their communities.

The law, which has been endorsed by Clinton, was adopted earlier by the House on a 418-0 vote.

It was passed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate with very few senators actually present.

Dole was hailed by various speakers here for, among other things, his wartime service.

As Wilson noted, “Bob Dole also has paid the price of being wounded in combat in service to his country.”

Dole incorporated the war theme into his own remarks.

He noted, for instance, that in the past 16 years, more than 340,000 Americans have died violent deaths at the hands of criminals.

“That’s more people than we lost in battle in World War II,” he said, “and more than six times the number we lost in Vietnam.

“We will fight [crime] together,” Dole said. “And we will fight to win--on every block, every town, every city, every state.”

He pledged to reform the exclusionary rule, which bars the use of improperly obtained evidence in court.

“Hard evidence that can be used to convict a criminal shouldn’t just be thrown out of court on a technicality,” he said. “A trial should be a search for the truth, not an opportunity for trial lawyers to manipulate every legal technicality and exploit every possible loophole.”

The peace officers behind Dole jumped to their feet in hearty applause as Dole added: “Criminals should be on trial, not the cops who arrested them.”

Dole began his latest campaign foray Friday night, speaking to GOP activists in Dewey Beach, Del.

He returned to Washington on Saturday night after the address in Louisville.