Circling the Wagon

Chapter 7 shows how so-called New Democrat Bill Clinton seized upon the stranger danger myth and hitched it to his racialized “law and order” and “family values” policy programs. As president, Clinton underwrote the passage of the Jacob Wetterling Act, the federal “three strikes” law, and Megan’s Law, which together federalized systems of sex offender registration and community notification. Imprinted with the names of white child-victims and awash in the imagery of endangered childhood, these laws enlarged and formalized the child safety regime, thus augmenting a carceral and surveillance state that disproportionately ensnares queer Americans, people of color, and youth.

Is Burglary a Violent Crime? An Empirical Investigation of the Armed Career Criminal Act’s Classification of Burglary as a Violent Felony

Traditionally considered a non-violent property offense, burglary is nonetheless classified as a violent crime under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). The ACCA, a three-strikes law that provides a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, is triggered when an offender, who has been previously convicted for a crime classified under the ACCA as either a “violent felony” or “serious drug offense,” is convicted at the federal level for any felony committed while in possession of a firearm. The present study investigated the ACCA’s classification of burglary as violent through analysis of National Crime Victimization Survey data for the period of 2009 to 2014. Results showed that burglary is overwhelmingly a non-violent offense. The national incidence of actual violence or threats of violence during a burglary was 7.9%. At most, 2.7% of burglaries involved actual acts of violence. Legislative reform of the ACCA classification to match the empirical description of burglary is discussed.