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No civilized community in the 20th century should permit a situation such as this to exist. Experience in cities that regulate the purchase and possession of handguns and the studies of the Crime Commission clearly show that strict controls can strengthen our efforts to reduce violent crimes. Such controls cannot eliminate the danger of violence in our society. But they can help keep lethal weapons out of dangerous and irresponsible hands.

As the District Crime Commission emphasized, New York City, with the most stringent pistol control law in the country, has many crimes committed with handguns, but the relative number of such crimes is significantly less than in the District.

The District had a handgun murder rate of 9.1 per 100,000 of population in fiscal 1966, New York City had a rate of only 1.7. The handgun assault rate was 79.8 in the District, but only 20 in New York. The handgun robbery rate was 141.7 in the District, but only 45.4 in New York.

I recommend legislation to—

Prohibit possession of firearms by minors, chronic alcoholics, and the mentally ill, as well as felons and drug addicts who are covered by existing law.

Prohibit purchase of firearms by chronic alcoholics, as well as minors, the mentally ill, felons, and drug addicts who are now covered.

Require that any person desiring to purchase, possess, or carry a pistol in public obtain a license which will be granted only if he can show that he needs the weapon to protect his person or property. Prohibit anyone from carrying rifles and shotguns in public, unless unloaded and properly encased.

Authorize the courts to impose increased penalties where a firearm is used in the commission of a robbery.

2. Power to arrest without a warrant

At present, District police officers are authorized to arrest without a warrant only when they have reason to believe that the person has committed an armed robbery, murder, or some other felony, or one of a limited number of misdemeanors, such as possession of narcotics or carrying a concealed weapon. The police today may not arrest a person whom they believe has committed other serious offenses, such as an assault or unlawful entry, without first obtaining a warrant for his arrest.

I recommend legislation to extend the authority of police to arrest without a warrant to additional serious offenses, such as assault, unlawful entry, and attempted housebreaking. This will allow the police to respond more quickly and effectively to criminal acts threatening serious harm to our citizens.

3. Witnesses

Of vital importance to crime control and any criminal prosecution is the availability of witnesses and their freedom from threats and intimidation.

Existing laws provide ample protections against intimidation of witnesses but only after charges have been filed. It is not a crime to bribe or threaten persons with vital information before charges have been filed.

I recommend that the obstruction of justice statute be extended to cover interference with criminal investigations before charges have been filed. In addition, the power of police to take custody of material witnesses at the scene of a crime must be clarified.

I recommend that the police of the District of Columbia be given authority to take custody of a material witness whenever there is reason to believe that he will not be available to testify in court. After the witness has been taken into custody, he would be promptly brought before a judicial officer who could either set conditions upon his release to insure reappearance or make arrangements for taking his deposition prior to release.

4. Citations before and after arrest for certain offenses

District police today spend enormous amounts of time guarding and transporting persons arrested for minor offenses. Even where the offense is minor and identity of the offender clear, the police must in each case arrest the offender and take him to the stationhouse before he can be released with orders to reappear for trial or a hearing to determine whether a trial should be held. This must be done even if the offense involves nothing more than annoying a neighbor or refusing to move on when asked by some local official. This results in an inexcusable waste of police time and energy and often prevents the police from fulfilling more important duties.

New York, California, and several other States have resolved this problem by authorizing the police to issue citations to persons they consider reliable to require a subsequent appearance in court or at the police station.

I recommend legislation to give the police discretion to issue citations for certain minor offenses requiring subsequent appearance by the suspect. Under this proposal, the court of general sessions would determine the types of offenses which would fall within this procedure. The proposal would enable the police to release reliable persons at the place of arrest or the stationhouse, thus conserving valuable police. time for more important crime detection and protection duties."

5. Bail supervision

Much can and should-be done to improve our bail practices.

We are now making every effort to speed up the judicial process, to shorten the periods between arrest and trial and between conviction and appeal. This would limit the period during which the suspect is at large pending trial or appeal.

In addition, we must minimize the risk to society created by releasing persons before their trial.

I recommend legislation to permit the Department of Corrections to supervise persons released pending trial. This legislation would make possible more careful supervision of persons released on bail and would help the released person obtain needed counseling and assistance. 6. Procedures upon plea of insanity

Existing procedures governing the defense of insanity contribute neither to judicial efficiency nor to protection of the rights of criminal defendants. A criminal defendant need not notify the prosecution or the court that he intends to raise the defense of insanity. He can wait until the prosecution has completed the presentation of its case and then submit this complex defense.

As a result the prosecutor must either make extensive and costly preparations which may not be necessary or enter the trial unprepared to deal with the issue. If the prosecution is not prepared and insanity is raised, a delay in the trial is unavoidable. But even where the trial is delayed, the government may not have sufficient time to prepare its case properly.

I recommend that counsel for a defendant who proposes to plead insanity be required to give advance notice to the prosecution.

This would protect the public against needless expense, where insanity is not in issue. It would protect the courts, the prosecution and the defendant against needless delay, where insanity is unexpectedly raised.

7. Civil commitment for narcotics offenses

Last year I proposed the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act to permit civil commitment of certain narcotic addicts. As I said at that time:

Our continued insistence on treating drug addicts, once apprehended, as criminals is neither humane nor effective. It has neither curtailed nor prevented crime.

I now recommend legislation to broaden the act's applicability in the District of Columbia.

Full criminal sanctions must be retained against the pushers who peddle narcotics-those who corrupt our children and destroy the lives of the young on whom they prey. But we must begin to provide treatment for those who are addicted to drugs. We must attempt "to eliminate the hunger for drugs that leads so many into lives of crime and degradation."

8. Alcoholic offenses

In fiscal 1965 there were 44,000 arrests for intoxication in the District of Columbia. This represents 50 percent of all nontraffic arrests. A few of these arrests were accompanied by assaults or other serious offenses. Most, however, involved nothing more than intoxication—and often just the intoxication of a chronic alcoholic. This represents a tremendous waste of resources police, courts, and prisons. Alcoholism, as both the National and District Crime Commissions pointed out, is not a criminal problem. It is a health problem. Alcoholics should not be arrested. They should be treated. I recommend that the laws of the District be clarified so that police and Health Department personnel can take intoxicated persons not to a jail, but to a medical facility where they can receive proper treatment. Intoxication would be a criminal offense only when accompanied by conduct which endangers other persons or property.

9. Criminal law and procedure

The criminal code of the District needs complete modernization and revision. It was last codified three-quarters of a century ago. The District Crime Commission cites many examples of vague, confusing, archaic, and conflicting provisions of substance and procedure. The District should have a coherent and consistent framework for the arrest and punishment of offenders and the control of crime.

I recommend the establishment of a Commission on Reform of Criminal Laws of the District of Columbia to review, modernize, and clarify the District's Criminal Code. The 11-man Commission would be com

posed of representatives from the House and Senate, from the courts of the District, and from the public at large.

10. Criminal statistics

The District must have a reliable means of discovering the effectiveness of its efforts to control crime. The report of the Crime Commission points out substantial gaps in the criminal information system. Police, courts, and correctional and juvenile institutions. maintain separate and uncoordinated records, often creating conflicts in statistics and leaving the community without a comprehensive view of its criminal process. More significant, the policymakers in the District and the senior police officials lack the information essential to evaluate new and lasting crime control programs.

I have asked the District Commissioners to create a Bureau of Criminal Statistics. The Bureau would supply crime-control agencies in the District with accurate data essential to their planning and evaluation functions and would end duplication of effort in data collection.

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

The District must be given the total resources necessary to mount an effective attack on crime. Its laws and law enforcement officersmust be strengthened. But we must also improve our techniques for crime prevention for processing offenders and for rehabilitating the convicted.

We must make additional efforts to stop crime where it most frequently begins with the young offender:

In the 16 years from 1950 to 1965, nearly one-third of the persons arrested in the District for serious crimes were under 18. In 1965 arrests of youth offenders under 18 for serious crimes increased by 53 percent over 1960; adult arrests decreased 11 percent during this same period.

In 1965 children 15 years and younger accounted for 36 percent of all housebreaking arrests and 27 percent of all robbery and auto theft arrests.

In January 1967, there were more youth offenders referred to the juvenile court than in any prior month.

The Crime Commission's report stresses the need for improving our efforts to rehabilitate our young offenders and restore them to useful and productive lives. But as the Commission stated, "The most productive approach for both the potential offender and the community is to prevent delinquency before it begins."

It will be neither simple nor cheap to halt the growth of juvenile crime. But we must commit the necessary resources. I have recommended in the budget urgently needed funds to strengthen and improve a variety of District programs-education, recreation, health, and welfare, and the juvenile court.

I have requested funds for a major summer program which will provide recreation, training, and employment for disadvantaged youth.

I have also asked for funds to expand the roving leader program which has had such marked success in dealing with gangs and delinquency-prone youth. These funds will permit the expansion of programs removing the causes of delinquency as well as the improve

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ment of the various rehabilitative services afforded the youth in trouble.

Consistency in these efforts, coordination of present youth programs, public and private, and development of new prevention techniques are essential. The Crime Commission proposed that a Youth Services Office be established to carry out these responsibilities.

I recommend legislation to establish a District Youth Services Office to plan and direct all the services needed to combat juvenile delinquency. This Office, recommended by the District Crime Commission, would encourage maximum efforts by public and private agencies, as well as by private individuals. It would make available through one source all the specialized services-counseling, remedial education, vocational training, employment assistance, and health and recreational services-needed by the young, their parents, school personnel, and other persons working with the youth of the District. It would test new ways to prevent and control delinquency and to restore the troubled youth to a satisfying and productive life.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

We must make improvements in the administration of justice in the District of Columbia.

The report of the Crime Commission's study of the District courts is particularly disturbing. The Commission points out that offenders are released and not tried-not from any deliberate policy of leniency or softness, but rather from the pressure of sheer numbers and impossible caseloads.

In fiscal 1966, the number of felony prosecutions was substantially less than it was 15 years ago in the face of a substantial increase in the amount of crime and the number of arrests. In fiscal 1965, only 15 percent of the adult felony charges filed by the police resulted in felony prosecutions in the district

court.

An efficient police department is not enough. We must have a judicial system fully capable of dealing swiftly and fairly with persons arrested by the police.

The courts and the bar are already engaged in serious efforts to find solutions. The district court and the court of general sessions have made significant strides in improving their procedures for handling criminal cases.

The Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit is preparing recommendations on ways to handle the staggering and increasingcaseload of the court of general sessions, and to improve the processing of criminal cases in all of our courts. One promising method being explored is a program for round-the-clock processing of arrested persons and night sessions of court.

The Judicial Council is also at work on another recommendation of the Crime Commission-the proposal for a family court which would assume the responsibilities of the juvenile court, the domestic relations branch of the court of general sessions, and the Mental Health Commission.

The need to find solutions remains urgent. I pledge the continuing cooperation and assistance of the executive branch to these efforts. Ï have asked the District Commissioners and the Acting Attorney General to review promptly any recommendations for improving the

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