THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 4, 1994 TAG: 9407040066
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SARAH HUNTLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
Virginia's prisons held an estimated 12,777 more convicts in 1993 than in 1983, government statistics show - an increase of about 130 percent that ranked the commonwealth ninth in the nation for percentage rise in inmate population.
Add to those figures the fact that the state's incarceration rate, the number of prisoners per 100,000 residents, has nearly doubled since 1983, and one conclusion seems clear - the commonwealth is tough on crime.
So why then is Gov. George F. Allen talking about, the public clamoring for and the legislature debating a stiffer criminal justice system? The answer, says Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, is simple.
``We still don't have a system in place that acts as a deterrent to violent crime,'' he said.
Despite the high incarceration statistics, the state's violent crime rate has jumped 28 percent from 292.5 in 1983 to 374.9 in 1992. The violent crime rate is the number of murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies per 100,000 residents.
During the first half of the decade the rate remained fairly steady. Since 1988, though, it has risen annually.
Virginia is not the only state facing a rising inmate population. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reports there were nearly a million inmates in state and federal prisons in the United States last year, but polls show few Americans say they feel safer today than years ago.
In fact, Congress is gearing up to pass tougher anti-crime measures, including expansion of the death penalty to dozens of new federal crimes and mandatory life imprisonment for repeat violent offenders.
In Virginia, both those who are enthusiastic about Allen's proposal to abolish parole, which is slated for debate this September in a special legislative session, and those who question the reforms agree on one point: The double threat of growth in the number of convicts and in violent crime paints a picture of a justice system that is failing.
``We're incarcerating more people, but the crime rate hasn't gone down,'' said Julie McConnell, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia. She called the notion that increased imprisonment deters crime ``a fallacy.''
Stroupe said that now is the time to change the system, and that the governor's proposal is the solution. Allen's Proposal X, still under development, would:
Abolish parole for all crimes.
Increase the sentences that violent criminals serve.
Establish alternative forms of punishment for nonviolent offenders.
``There's been a lot of tinkering of the system in Virginia, but now we're talking about major surgery, an overhaul,'' Stroupe said.
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star analyzed figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics comparing changes in Virginia's prison population and incarceration rates to those of other states.
The statistics include violent and nonviolent offenders who have been sentenced to prison for terms of a year or longer. The national figures cover prisoners in both state and federal penitentiaries. The state statistics are for state prisons only.
The analysis showed that Virginia's prisons held 10,093 inmates in 1983. Ten years later, there were an estimated 22,870 convicts.
New Hampshire ranked first with the decade's highest percent increase. New Hampshire's prison population only changed by 1,296 convicts, but because the state's prison population was small to begin with, that amounted to a rise of 270.6 percent.
In addition to the other findings, the rankings showed that Virginia's incarceration rate in 1993 - 346 per 100,000 residents - was the 18th highest in the United States.
But criminologists and government officials say the incarceration numbers don't tell the whole story.
``The key is not so much the incarceration rate, because for the most part the people who rape and murder go to prison, but the key is, how long are these people spending in prison?'' said Richard P. Kern, director of the state Criminal Justice Research Center.
Not long, according to a comparison of average time served and sentence lengths.
For example, the average sentence for first-degree murder in fiscal year 1992 was 37 years. The average prison stay for that crime was 11 years. The average sentence for rape was eight years. Convicted rapists got out after an average of four years. And although the average sentence for robbery was 11 years, the average stay was three and a half years.
Del. James Almand, D-Arlington, said the incarceration rate is a financial measure because it explains, in part, where Virginia's correctional spending is going. According to Eric Finkbiner, a budget analyst with the governor's office, it costs about $16,196 a year to incarcerate each felon. Nevertheless, Almand stressed the rate's limitations.
``The incarceration rate can be an indication that we could better utilize our prison resources, but it doesn't show everything,'' he said. ``One thing the incarceration rate doesn't show is the length of actual incarceration.''
Almand, who is chairman of the house's criminal justice committee, argues that a more focused look at the rates is necessary.
``We have to make sure we are incarcerating the right people for the right amount of time,'' he said.
Allen's Proposal X is aimed at keeping repeat offenders off the streets longer. State statistics show a 75 percent recidivism rate, Stroupe said. The governor's proposal will ensure that criminals serve at least 85 percent of their original sentences.
The legislature has already passed a ``three strikes and you're out'' proposal, which requires an automatic life sentence for a criminal's third felony offense. The law is scheduled to go into effect July 1. Nevertheless, there is a substantial amount of debate about how much the policy will affect career criminals. One state analysis, released in February, calculated that only 19 people will be subjected to ``three strikes'' in the next 30 years.
The same questions are likely to haunt Proposal X. While it is true that criminals are serving nowhere near the amount of time they've been sentenced, they are serving more time today than 10 years ago. From 1983 to 1987, the average time spent for a murder without prior convictions was only 5.4 years, state statistics show.
If prison time is considered the linchpin for deterring crime, and time served and incarceration rates have gone up, the puzzle remains. Why hasn't violent crime gone down?
``It's tough to say,'' said Barry Green, manager of the state's Department of Planning and Budget. ``You could argue either that it makes no difference or that the crime rate would have risen even more if it weren't for the increased incarceration rate. You couldn't prove that that's the case, but you couldn't disprove it either.''
Proponents of the governor's reforms say seeking alternative ways of punishing nonviolent offenders while incarcerating violent criminals longer will bring balance to a system that currently defies logic - and costs much.
Depending on what new sentences the governor unveils in September, Kern said, ``the costs may not be as great as our current way of doing business.''
The ACLU, which has expressed reservations about the proposal, says there is no one solution.
``We are not opposed to incarcerating violent offenders for longer sentences, but we believe there's a lot more to it than that,'' McConnell said. ``Just incarcerating people isn't enough. You have to address the social and economic problems that create the violent criminals.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic with color photo of Gov. Allen
A PROPOSAL BY GOV. GEORGE R. ALLEN WOULD: Abolish parole for all
crimes.
Increase the sentences that violent criminals serve.
Set alternative forms of punishment for nonviolent offenders.
Explains his press secretary, "We still don't have a system in
place that acts as a deterrent to violent crime."
Charts
More Crime, More Time
Average Time Served
Top 10 Fastest Growing Prison Populations in the United States.
KEYWORDS: PRISONER SENTENCE PAROLE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
CRIME INMATE by CNB