Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 22, 1993 TAG: 9301220124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WOODRUM BILL STRESSES COST OF JAIL TERMS
Before Virginia's lawmakers get tough on crime, Del. Clifton Woodrum wants them to stop and think: Who's going to pay the cost of longer and longer prison and jail terms for offenders?Woodrum, D-Roanoke, said Thursday that he's introducing a bill prohibiting any law from being enacted after mid-1994 that would increase prison sentences unless a 10-year cost estimate is attached. And money to cover the highest single-year cost would have to be appropriated before the tougher sentence could be imposed.
"I think of it as `pay as you incarcerate,' " Woodrum said."People who want to be tough on crime ought to belly up to thebar and take responsibility for it."
Gov. Douglas Wilder and numerous lawmakers from both Woodrum parties are introducing legislation that would lengthen penalties for various crimes. Such bills are particularly popular in election years, and seats in the House of Delegates and all three statewide offices will be on the ballot this fall.
In a package of initiatives to combat violent crime, Wilder hasproposed increasing the maximum penalty for second-degree murder from 20 to 40 years. He also wants certain violent offenders to be required to serve two-thirds of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Now, good behavior and other time discounts are factored in the amount of actual time served.
A spokesman for O. Randolph Rollins, Wilder's secretary of public safety, said Wilder's bills would not be affected should Woodrum's proposal be adopted. The governor's measures would become effective July 1, a full year before Woodrum's plan.
Similarly, Republicans seeking alternatives to Wilder's call for limits on handgun purchases have proposed several measures stiffening penalties for violent crimes. If those bills pass and are effective before July 1, 1994, they likewise would not be affected by Woodrum's plan.
Searching for co-sponsors for his proposal, Woodrum pointed out that as recently as 1981-82, when he came to the House, the state's prisons had 9,897 inmates. By 1991-92, the total had jumped to 20,460.
Correspondingly, state spending for adults in the penal system has increased from $89 million in 1981-82 to $286 million in 1991-92, Woodrum said.
"In the next three years, there will be a 30 percent increase in the number of people incarcerated," Woodrum said.
"I want people to think about it this session," Woodrum said. "We need to be conscious of who we're punishing and why we're punishing them. And we need to see if there are other alternatives to putting people in jail, such as intensive probation, in-home monitoring or house arrest."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993