Protecting Our Families
Republicans remain the party of vigorous action against crime and the party that empowers the law-abiding by protecting their right to keep and bear arms for self-protection. Our national experience over the past twenty years has shown that vigilance, tough yet fair prosecutors, meaningful sentences, protection of victims’ rights, and limits on judicial discretion protect the innocent by keeping criminals off the streets.
Stopping Online Child Predators and Ending Child Pornography
The Internet must be made safe for children. That’s why Republicans have led efforts to increase the funding necessary to track down and jail online predators through the Adam Walsh Act. We commit to do whatever it takes, using all the tools of innovative technology, to thwart those who would prey upon our children. We call on service providers to exercise due care to ensure that the Internet cannot become a safe haven for criminals.
Child pornography is a hideous form of child abuse. Those who produce it – and those who traffic in it – must be punished to the maximum extent of the law. Because it is an international problem, the Executive branch must carry the fight overseas to where the molesters perpetrate their evil. Congress should expand the range of companies required to report the existence of child pornography, and we congratulate the social networking sites that agree to bar known sex offenders from participation.
Internet Gambling
Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the law prohibiting gambling over the Internet.
Ridding the Nation of Criminal Street Gangs
Gang violence is a growing problem, not only in urban areas but in many suburbs and rural communities. It has escalated with the rise of gangs composed largely of illegal aliens, most of whose victims are law-abiding members of immigrant communities. We call for stronger enforcement and determined prosecution of gang conspiracies. Illegal alien gang members must be removed from the United States immediately upon arrest or after the completion of any sentence imposed. Aliens convicted of crimes that render them removable from the United States must be removed as soon as possible after the completion of their sentences through the immediate transfer of their custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Locking Up Criminals
Criminals behind bars cannot harm the general public. To that end:
- We support mandatory sentencing provisions for gang conspiracy crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, rape, and assaults resulting in serious bodily injury.
- Gang rape, child rape, and rape committed in the course of another felony deserve, at the least, mandatory life imprisonment.
- We oppose the granting of parole to dangerous or repeat felons.
- Courts must have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases and other instances of heinous crime, while federal review of those sentences should be streamlined to focus on claims of innocence and to prevent delaying tactics by defense attorneys.
- We encourage the use of advanced technology to monitor nonviolent criminals.
Reforming Prisons and Serving Families
Public authorities at all levels must cooperate to regain control of the nation’s correctional institutions. It is unacceptable that prison officers should live in fear of the inmates they guard. Similarly, persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates. We cannot allow correctional facilities to become ethnic or racial battlegrounds.
Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are incarcerated. Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, these youngsters should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions. Government at all levels should work with faith-based institutions that have proven track records in diverting young and first offenders from criminal careers through Second Chance and similar programs. Individuals, including juveniles, who are repeat offenders or who commit serious crimes need to be prosecuted and punished.
Protecting Law Enforcement Officers
In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving bodily injury to law enforcement officers. Reviews of death sentences imposed for murdering a police officer should be expedited, and a retrial of the penalty phase of the killer’s trial should be allowed in the absence of a unanimous verdict. We support the right of off-duty and retired officers to carry firearms. Criminals should be barred from seeking monetary damages for injuries they incur while committing a crime.
Improving Law Enforcement
In recent years, many federal resources for law enforcement have been shifted to the fight against terror. To compensate for that loss of manpower – and with the significant increase in cybercrime, identity theft, and human trafficking – several thousand new FBI agents, U.S. marshals, immigration officers, and Border Patrol agents are needed.
Continuing the Fight against Illegal Drugs
The human toll of drug addiction and abuse hits all segments of American society. It is an international problem as well, with most of the narcotics in this country coming from beyond our borders. We will continue the fight against producers, traffickers, and distributors of illegal substances through the collaboration of state, federal, and local law enforcement. We support the work of those who help individuals struggling with addiction, and we support strengthening drug education and prevention programs to avoid addiction. We endorse state and local initiatives, such as Drug Courts, that are trying new approaches to curbing drug abuse and diverting first-time offenders to rehabilitation.
Protecting the Victims of Crime
Twenty-six years ago, President Reagan’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, calling the neglect of crime victims a “national disgrace,” proposed a constitutional amendment to secure their formal rights. Today, that disgrace persists in courtrooms across the nation. Innocent victims – battered women, abused children, the loved ones of the murdered – still may not be told when their case is being heard. They can be excluded from the courtroom even when the defendant and his friends may be present. They have no right to a speedy trial, and a judge or parole board has no obligation to consider their personal safety in making release decisions. In short, the innocent have far fewer rights than the accused. We call on Congress to correct this imbalance by sending to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of crime victims. In addition, crime victims should be assured of access to legal and social services, and the Crime Victims Fund established under President Reagan should be used solely for that purpose.
Securing Our Civil Liberties
Because our Constitution is based on the principles of individual liberty and limited government, we must always ensure that law enforcement respects the civil and constitutional rights of the people. While we wage war on terrorism in foreign lands, it is sometimes necessary for intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials to pursue terrorist threats at home. However, no expansion of governmental powers should occur at the expense of our constitutional liberties.
Renewing Neighborhoods, Building Communities
The two most effective forces in reducing crime and other social ills are strong families and caring communities. Both reinforce constructive conduct and ethical standards by setting examples and providing safe havens from dangerous and destructive behaviors. Given the weight of social science evidence concerning the crucial role played by the traditional family in setting a child’s future course, we urge a thoughtful review of governmental policies and programs to ensure that they do not undermine that institution.
Decentralized decision-making in the place of official controls empowers individuals and groups to tackle social problems in partnership with government. Bureaucracy is no longer a credible approach to helping those in need. This is especially true in light of alternatives such as faith-based organizations, which tend to have a greater degree of success than others in dealing with problems such as substance abuse and domestic violence. To accomplish their missions, those groups must be able to rely upon people who share their faith; their hiring must not be subjected to government regulation and mandates.
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The 2008 Platform Committee received public input through a website. Ultimately more than 13,000 comments were received and considered. The following is a sampling of those comments:
(Ed - Herndon, VA)
Gangs must be classified as Terrorist Organizations and treated accordingly. Even the police acknowledge that most of the gun violence and other crimes are by and for gangs. This needs to stop. It does no good for our troops to risk their necks in other areas if we cannot walk the streets in our own nations capital.
(Brent - Polson, MT)
Within those parameters set down by the United States Supreme Court, we support the right of each state to determine in what cases the death penalty would be imposed. We oppose the undue interference of federal courts in the right of each individual state to carry out its death penalty statutes. We urge the federal government to limit appeals in death penalty cases.
(Shawn - Clarksville, TN)
I don't understand how so many Americans who are opposed to the death penalty for convicted murderers are so adamantly pro-abortion, ready to apply the death penalty on innocent unborn Americans. It is so backwards that we murder the innocent while preserving the guilty, many who have no desire to reform. We have so many enemies in the world, yet we are destroying our own people; destroying our country from within.
(Pat - Leesburg, VA)
One way to make our communities safer and have fewer victims is to use inmates' time in prison to prepare them to live healthy, productive, law-abiding lives when they are released. As Senator McCain told the Sheriffs Association, “Unless we change our approach over the next four years, these released prisoners are likely to reoffend in very high numbers, committing millions of new crimes and finding millions of new victims. And we need to be as committed in preparing them for freedom as we were in taking that freedom away.” The most effective way to change prisoners' lives is to link them with solid citizens from the community. These mentors can help them develop concrete plans for their release, and give them good friends after they return to the community.
(Joseph - Shelton, CT)
Faith-based organizations should be eligible for government funding as long as the mission of the organization could not be construed as seeking to establish their religion (this would exclude giving to the parish church but not Catholic Relief Services, for example) and as long as the organization does not advocate violence or illegal activity. Since religious schools do a tremendous service in educating our youth, they should also be eligible for government funding.
(Cheri - Cincinnati, OH)
My family currently volunteers at a faith-based pregnancy care center. The young women who come in are searching for options such as adoption. They want to know someone will help them make an informed decision. Please continue to support the faith-based organizations who aren't in this business for money, but to give women the support and knowledge they need. These women and their partners are educated in parenting classes, too. They are not left out in the cold. We have to do something about the abortion clinics who claim that there are no repercussions to the mother who have abortions. We see time and time again the ill effects that decision can have on their lives. |
