THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, July 16, 1994                TAG: 9407150010
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

MORE PRISONS IS THE WRONG ANSWER

I used to believe your paper was generally fair-minded on most issues, but it seems your staff has succumbed to the faddish espousal of ideas characterized as ``conservative.'' Your July 10 editorial on more prisons is one such example.

This editorial once again shows the shortsightedness of many writers on the issue of crime in America. Your writer proposes the idea that building more prisons to improve public safety is like saying that we should build more hospitals to stop a plague. While we may be able to take those who are sick off the streets, this will stop the plague only if all those infected are placed in quarantine.

I suppose we could incarcerate all criminals, but the cost to taxpayers would exceed even what those whom your editors call ``liberals'' would be willing to spend.

Thus, we are faced with the dilemma of how to best allocate resources. More prisons will not stop crime.

I am surprised to find that ``conservatives'' favor such a large expansion of the power of the state over our lives. The real problems in our society are much deeper and much more difficult to treat.

There are fewer and fewer resources for an expanding population to use. Consequently, the ladder of social and economic opportunity has fewer rungs, making it harder for each generation to achieve what its predecessor had. We have families forced to expand their income by having both spouses work. This has created great tension between the sexes. There are fewer opportunities for poorer Americans, and lingering racist attitudes exacerbate the tension. We have seen more and more Americans slip from the middle class into poverty, and more fall from poverty to homelessness.

All of these and other factors contribute to rising crime rates. Building more prisons will not solve anything in the long term - nor even the short term. Until we address the tougher questions of our social and economic existence, more prisons will not make Virginia or the nation any safer.

GREGORY WILSON

Norfolk, July 10, 1994 by CNB