BILL O'REILLY (HOST): Here are the facts. According to FBI data between 1960 and 1990, the rate of violent crime in the USA surged by 350 percent. Violence in cities like New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, way out of control, and people in the poor neighborhoods took the brunt of it. In 1970, convicted murderers in America served a median sentence of just 3.5 years for murder, for killing somebody, 3.5 years. That was insane. So Bill Clinton and both political parties finally did something about it. They passed tough new sentencing laws, the result? Violent crime has dropped drastically since the mid-1990s, to historic lows today. That's the truth.
Tough sentencing for violent offenders drove crime down in the USA, big time. Now the race question. Again, according to FBI data, from 1976 to 1995, black Americans were identified by police as committing more than half of the homicides in the USA. African-Americans make up 13 percent of the population. In addition, a National Crime Victim's survey reported that blacks committed robberies at a rate of 60 percent. Again, the black community is just 13 percent of the entire population, so what's the beef? If black Americans are committing crimes out of proportion to other ethnic groups, why is there a racial component to their presence in prison? Why?
Also, forget about the drug myth. Right now in federal penitentiaries, 99.5 percent of drug convicted inmates are traffickers, not users. 99.5 percent, so the question becomes “Why is the Democratic Party caving in to propaganda put out by radical groups like Black Lives Matter?” It's clear that tough sentencing reform, spearheaded by both parties in the 90's, and signed by President Clinton saved perhaps millions of American lives. Yet, the entire criminal justice system is now being branded as racist and oppressive. Disgraceful.
