Senate Judiciary Committee Sets Violence Hearing in Philadelphia

HARRISBURG -- A public hearing on urban violence will be conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, August 2, 2006, in City Council Chambers of Philadelphia City Hall, beginning at 9 a.m., according to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf.

Witnesses to date include Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson; Lawrence W. Sherman, Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology; Bilal Qayyum; Co-Chair, Men United for a Better Philadelphia; Shelly Yanoff, Executive Director of Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth; Diane Edbril, Executive Director of CeaseFirePA; Robert A. Ricker, Executive Director of American Hunters and Shooters Association; John Towarnicki, President, Philadelphia Federation of Sportsmen’s Club; Jon S. Mirowitz, Esq., representing the United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State Fish and Game Protective Association; Greg Isabella, Operations Manager and Vice President, Firing Line Inc.; and Shirley Boggs, Mothers United in Tragedy.

Witnesses will testify on the issue of urban violence and legislation proposing the limitation of gun purchases in Philadelphia.  The hearing was prompted by concerns about the burgeoning homicide rate in Philadelphia and other urban areas.  With about 220 murders in Philadelphia so far this year, according to news reports, the city is on track to outpace its 380 homicides in 2005.

Sen. Greenleaf said that the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue with public hearings on urban violence in the cities of Pittsburgh, Altoona, and Harrisburg this summer and early fall.