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

DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994                   TAG: 9409130080
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: MATTHEW BOWERS LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUVENILE CRIME BOARD RESIGNS IN PROTEST OF ALLEN

Six of the seven members of a state board dealing with the punishment and prevention of juvenile crime have quit, complaining that Gov. George Allen's get-tough philosophies ran counter to their goals and ``collective conscience.''

The six members of the governing board of the Department of Youth and Family Services resigned late last week in Richmond. A seventh member, a state employee, didn't resign.

``His administration is `lock 'em up and throw away the key,' '' said Donald E. Brown, a former Portsmouth city official and charter member of the board. ``We believe ... the larger percentage can be saved.''

The Department of Youth and Family Services develops programs for children in the state corrections system and oversees its detention and group homes, learning centers and court-services units. It was split in 1990 from the Department of Corrections to deal with the state's increasing number of violent and disturbed youths.

Five of the six who resigned Thursday were, like Brown, charter members appointed by then-Gov. Gerald Baliles and reappointed by former Gov. Douglas Wilder.

In their letter of resignation, the six members - Brown, Chairman Franklin M. Slayton, David L. Temple Jr., William E. Weddington, Penelope A. Rood and Leonard N. Smith - said they believed ``first and foremost in protecting the public from violent offenders, both youth and adult'' and in finding ways to prevent such behavior by working with young people and their families.

``Now, under your administration, this basic and essential philosophy has shifted dramatically, one that compromises the Board and Department's goals and our collective conscience.''

Brown said the resigning board members weren't happy that the governor replaced the department's director, Charles J. Kehoe, with former Norfolk and Virginia Beach prosecutor Patricia L. West in May. West has said she planned to take a hard line on juvenile offenders.

Under Allen, the state also passed new laws that in July lowered from 15 to 14 the age at which serious juvenile offenders can be treated as adults and allowed judges to impose specific instead of indeterminate sentences, including ordering offenders to be held in juvenile detention facilities until age 21.

Brown agreed that truly violent youths should be incarcerated, but said too many others get caught up unintentionally in such acts. ``That doesn't necessarily mean that kid can't be helped,'' he said. ``Especially if you work with the family."

by CNB