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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991                   TAG: 9103200396
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. JUDGE SAYS BLACKS BENEFITED FROM DOG ATTACK/

A federal judge surprised a Senate committee Tuesday by asserting that young blacks who were attacked by police dogs may have benefited from the experience.

Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, President Bush's nominee to move up to a federal appeals court, said that the mauling of several young black men with police attack dogs may have provided "a negative reinforcement" against their committing future crimes.

Ryskamp said it was this rationale that prompted him in 1987 to throw out a jury's verdict against West Palm Beach, Fla., police officers. The officers were accused of civil-rights violations in a civil lawsuit filed by four black men.

"If their only remembrance of the crime was the pain of being bitten by a dog, that may be a negative reinforcement and they may never steal again," Ryskamp said. "I was thinking of their own welfare . . . and that a painful experience might be a deterrent."

The comments came in the opening minutes of a contentious hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Civil-rights groups have targeted Ryskamp for defeat because of rulings against blacks, Latinos, women and the elderly.

by CNB