
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993                   TAG: 9306230156
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

RENO SAYS CHILDREN FORGOTTEN

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said Tuesday that the best solution to violent crime is increased state and federal aid to programs for children.

"Too often, America has forgotten about its children," she said. "Unless we make investments in children from 0 to 3, we will never have enough prisons to house them when they reach 18."

Reno made her remarks before the Governor's Commission on Violent Crime, a group of 56 politicians, law enforcement officials and educators from around Virginia studying ways of reducing lawlessness. The panel held an all-day meeting at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In an era of limited budgets, Reno said states must learn to use funds for prisons more efficiently. She said Virginia and other states should impose longer mandatory sentences on violent criminals and develop alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders.

Reno said state corrections departments should improve drug treatment, job skills and education programs: "The dumbest thing we do in America is sentence someone convicted of substance abuse to three years in jail with no training."

by CNB