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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994                   TAG: 9410010039
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-15   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE A. SCHLESINGER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOV. ALLEN'S PLAN DOES INCLUDE CRIME PREVENTION

I HESITATE to individually diverge from the recently stated position of so many of my esteemed colleagues in the clergy whom I hold in such high regard. Nevertheless, I personally declined the opportunities to join the 22 eminent leaders who signed A Statement of Religious Leaders in Virginia on the Report of the Governor's Commission on Abolition of Parole and Sentencing Reform that was issued earlier this month.

At our initial meeting, I must confess that, along with the overwhelming majority of the members of the clergy present, I, too, had not even seen, much less thoughtfully studied, the entire text of the governor's commission's August 1994 final report and its 18 recommendations. When asked right then and there to affix my signature to the proposed Statement of Religious Leaders in Virginia, it seemed unfair and improper to co-sign a document that was so critical of a report that I had never even seen.

Several days later, Gov. George Allen invited a delegation from this group to his office to discuss and address its then-public criticism and concerns. There, Gov. Allen personally distributed a copy of the commission's 79-page final report to everyone in attendance. Regrettably, however, no time was allotted by the leaders of the clergy group to allow the members of its delegation to actually read the text of the report; at the conclusion of the meeting with the governor, a slightly revised, critical Statement of Religious Leaders in Virginia was immediately presented, emended, and then very quickly approved.

Once again, I declined the opportunity to sign on to the clergy statement; rather than jump on the bandwagon, I took the time to read and digest the recommendations and complexities of this significant report.

The report in its entirety deserves a fair reading. I was shocked to learn that, in 1992, 2,000 more African-Americans were murdered across this nation than whites, and that the African-American male residing in a metropolitan area is 2.5 times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than his white counterpart.

From my own careful reading and analysis of the text, I now understand that the Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform Commission's recommendations are intended, in large measure, to ensure that our commonwealth is safeguarded from its most violent offenders, while, at the same time, its low-risk, nonviolent offenders will have even greater access to the educational, drug-treatment and work activities that will significantly aid them in their attempts to return to honest and productive lives.

Prior to actually sitting down and reading the specific proposals in the Commission's Final Report, I did not realize that the easily criticized $1 billion price tag for the construction of new prisons over the course of the next 10 years is expected to be offset, at the same time, by ``a cumulative savings to victims and society of $2.7 billion.''

As a former chaplain who served the New York State Department of Correctional Services, I am impressed with many of the commission's innovative recommendations, including the establishment of a program of earned sentence credits, community corrections boards, and networks of resources designed to assist offenders upon their release.

The Statement of Religious Leaders in Virginia erroneously accused the governor's commission of not proposing reforms aimed ``at preventing crime in the first place.'' As a member of the Governor's Commission on Citizen Empowerment, I can attest to the fact that a number of these critical recommendations will soon be offered in the empowerment commission's forthcoming final report.

Thus, despite the Statement of Religious Leaders' blind assertion to the contrary, these critical measures are, in fact, an integral part of Gov. Allen's overall strategy and comprehensive plan.

Like religious leaders throughout the commonwealth, I, too, believe that people who commit criminal acts are capable of conversion and of becoming productive persons who contribute to the well-being of society. But my five-year experience as a corrections chaplain ministering to the needs of predominantly violent offenders inside a maximum-security facility also indicates that it is extremely difficult to consistently and accurately ascertain just who these few noble individuals are.

When read and comprehended in its entirety, the final report of Gov. Allen's Commission on Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform does have many innovative merits. Unlike many of my colleagues, it seems, I believe that it is one in which all the citizens and clergy of our Virginia commonwealth may take pride and feel increasingly secure.

Laurence A. Schlesinger of Richmond is rabbi at Beth Ahabah.

by CNB