Details of the bill are here.)

The bill overwhelmingly passed the House, with the exception of the repeal of the Assault Weapons Ban and the federalization of state street crime involving guns (through the creation of new mandatory minimum sentences), which Gingrich managed to separate from the remainder of the crime bill for later consideration.

The provisions that passed the House (pdf) were those: curtailing the exclusionary rule to allow the admission of evidence seized in warrantless searches if the officer acted in "good faith;" imposing severe restrictions on habeas corpus petitions; eliminating all drug prevention funding and the establishment of drug courts included in the prior year's crime bill (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994); mandating restitution for direct and indirect victims of crime, regardless of the offender's ability to pay; restricting prisoner lawsuits; and authorizing $ 10 billion dollars for building more prisons to house violent offenders, while disallowing funds to build alternative correctional facilities.

Not content with the Gingrich plan, Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Dole presented an even more draconian version for the Senate, called S.3. Among the low-points of their bill: the abolition of the Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule and the creation in its stead of a tort claim with a cap of $ 30,000 in almost all cases; the almost complete evisceration of habeas relief; an increase in mandatory minimum offenses; the complete exemption of federal prosecutors from ethical rules other than those adopted by the At