LEADERS BLIND TO REAL CAUSES OF CRIME

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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993                   TAG: 9303010217
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
LEADERS BLIND TO REAL CAUSES OF CRIME
WHY IS it that every time I hear anything concerning crime control in this country, the only solution put forward by the leadership, including President Clinton, is for more laws? The laws we already have are rarely enforced or are plea-bargained down.
Yet, we hear Clinton and Gov. Wilder trying to impose more restrictions on the law-abiding citizen, instead of going after the drug dealers and thieves who steal guns and use them in a crime.
The people who are trying to impose laws (thus taking more of our freedoms away) refuse to recognize the real problem. We do not enforce the laws we already have, nor do we any longer impose sentences befitting the crime. People are no longer made responsible for their actions. Instead they are coddled and allowed to continue their ways if they show remorse, apologize, have had a rough life or childhood.
The knee-jerk, unworkable, quick-fix solutions of Clinton and Wilder are no more than an excuse to do nothing about the real problem.
If we are serious about controlling crime, we have to recognize the real cause of crime, which is the loss of moral values and the destruction of the family unit. The crime problem will never be solved as long as society makes excuses for it instead of addressing the causes. Nor can it be solved by an administration bent upon turning the country into a cesspool of immorality. CHARLES E. MARKLE MONETA

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB