Punitive Approach to Crime Fails

The letter from Jeff Cherry (Dec. 4) trumpets the same worn-out and misguided folk mythologies that have escalated our nation into the unenviable position of being both the most punitive and the most violent industrialized country in the modern world. Certainly the myth of lenient judges should have been put to rest in 1976 when California adopted the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act, which effectively removed from judges any real method for being lenient even in the few cases where they felt so inclined. Certainly the recent public clamor to get tough on crime has predisposed most judges to publicly adopt roles more reminiscent of hanging judges than soft-headed liberals. They too, after all, are elected officials.

The literature is full of verifiable documentation from government, private and academic studies that clearly indicates stronger sentences accomplish little more than making the bad guys worse. Prison is known to be more effective as a graduate school for criminals than as a deterrent.

We can put more police on the streets all the way up to the point of martial law and still make very little impact on the most violent crimes. Most murders and rapes don’t happen where police would likely be. Domestic violence is also hidden from view. Gangs would consider it a recognition of their power and a challenge.

The problem is extremely difficult and will yield to no easy solutions. But it becomes more obvious every day that the strictly punitive approach to crime control is a hopeless failure. We will spend upward of $23,000 per inmate per year to house and feed young men after the fact as we cut and slash any so-called “entitlement” programs that could, if consistently and intelligently administered, accomplish much more to prevent the problem.

Many informed students of this vast problem consider our expensive, wasteful and rapidly growing prison system to be the most costly of all “entitlement” programs. In 1994, corrections will have consumed a larger portion of the budget than higher education, Over the past decade, the number of correctional employees has increased more than all other state employees combined.

Yes, these statements are open to debate. And that is exactly what we need to do more and more. We will be happy to engage in that debate anywhere at any time.

EUGENE WOOD

SUE HAVERUK

Criminal Justice Sentencing Consultants

Mission Viejo