Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994 TAG: 9402080150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But those expecting a quick fix to parole woes will be disappointed.
It will be mid-1995 before two commissions - one recommending guidelines for the reform, the other matching sentences to specific crimes - finish work and the system is in place, Allen indicated.
Speaking to the first session of a 32-member commission on parole and sentencing reform, Allen said the effort to remove "grisly, violent predators" from the streets puts members on "the cutting edge of a reform effort that can provide an example for the nation."
The commission is expected to present recommendations at a special legislative session, probably in May, and the reform should be in place 14 months later, organizers said.
According to Allen and former U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen, co-chairman of the commission, the reform effort will aim to extend the prison terms of violent offenders, largely by providing less-costly punishments for the nonviolent.
But the difficulty of reducing violent crime by keeping the most violent criminals behind bars is underscored in data recently reported by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. Those figures show that more violent crimes are committed by nonviolent offenders on parole than by violent offenders similarly freed.
Larceny, fraud, most drug crimes and most property crimes - including burglary - are considered nonviolent offenses. Violent crimes include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
Allen, Cullen and the commission's other co-chairman, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, generally envision patterning Virginia's sentencing structure on the federal system. Judges or juries operate within a range of penalties for each offense, and criminals must serve the sentence given.
Virginia convicts now may serve one-third or less of the time to which they are sentenced.
"Those who say Virginia is a tough, law-and-order state are not talking to the people on the front lines, the prosecutors, who frequently turn violent criminals over for prosecution in the federal system in order to keep them behind bars for mandatory prison terms without the possibility of parole," Allen told the commission.
Commission members include prosecutors, judges, victims advocates, legislators and business representatives.
Cullen cautioned that the commission must balance the desire to end parole against the cost of doing so. Abolishing parole while keeping sentences at their current length would send prison populations soaring.
The result, Cullen said, is that the commission will have to study sentencing alternatives: boot camps, electronic monitoring, community service and other less expensive punishments.
Deciding who stays behind bars will be a major challenge, Cullen and others acknowledged. "Risk assessment" techniques to be used likely will focus on such factors as age and previous criminal records, staff members said.
For instance, more than 7,000 of the state's roughly 16,500 prisoners are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes and have no previous convictions for violent crimes, according to the Department of Criminal Justice Services.
As outlined by Cullen, the special session will be used to name and instruct a sentencing commission. Legislators, acting on the commission's recommendations, may be asked to set criteria for expanded use of alternate punishments, for example.
"No one is going to suggest reforming the criminal justice system is the only answer," Barr said, "but there can be no answer without it."
by CNB