THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By ROBERT G. MARCUS
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
The recent death of 3-year-old Taylor Ricks is a tragedy that should inspire action by the people of Norfolk to break this city's violent-crime habit. Taylor's death is one of many violent acts which clearly points out the need for decisive effort against gun-using criminals.
The only reason such behavior continues is that people permit it. Victims of Norfolk's criminals, or witnesses to criminal acts, often shield lawbreakers from arrest and the public disgrace they deserve. Their unwillingness to come forward and give information of criminal acts only emboldens criminals.
Further support for lawbreakers is provided by officials who favor or oppose corrective actions for political reasons instead of for how they might affect criminals. The key word is ``criminals,'' not ``crime.'' ``The armed society'' (editorial, April 4) focuses upon firearms as if they were the cause of crime. Such an editorial succeeds in selling newspapers, but it diverts attention from the criminal's responsibility. It also diverts the public will to fight criminals by focusing outrage on nonthinking instruments, while thinking, plotting and scheming people plan and execute violent crimes.
More support for thugs comes from the criminal-justice system. When cases are made by the police against lawbreakers, prosecutors and judges frequently use their discretionary powers to delay or drop the prosecutions. There is constant pressure on police officials to stop crime, even though the action they are permitted really comes after the crime occurs. They have no power to prevent anything except through vigilant patrol and the deterrent value of convictions from the arrests they make. Plea bargains, technical dismissals and bad jury verdicts destroy the prevention value of their arrests.
When crime rates increase, police are first blamed by the very people who should be doing their own part to prevent it. The only defense police officials have found, and that the media and government accept, has been to divert attention to firearms. That may be why command-level police officers are outspoken for gun control, while most of the rank and file officers quietly hold a different view.
For lawmakers, anti-firearms legislation is a perfect hedge. More than 40 controls have been enacted, with no measurable result, leaving both sides in this issue open to any claim they want to make. Laws have become so ineffective that most people still think there are no controls in Virginia. The job will never be complete, so legislators can always use it to avoid hard reality and still make voters think they are working to stop crime.
``Crime'' is a shapeless concept which lacks the ability to respond to any control. Responsible people must focus on what would be effective against criminals. In the 1960s, federal officials discovered the idea of ``swift and sure,'' which means that the justice system will deal with a criminal soon after arrest, with the even-handed assurance that justice will be done. Stiff sentences are good only to the point that juries are willing to impose them. Going too far only encourages jurors who feel sentences are unfair to find the defendant not guilty.
Treatment by mental-health professionals is useful, but the success rate is not high enough to ensure public safety alone. Social reforms treating poverty, fragmented families, teen pregnancy and much more may come closest to potential solution, but costs prohibit implementation. We need as much mental and social treatment as taxpayers will tolerate. To enhance them, we need serious effort to make sentences fit the crime, and the implementation of ``swift and sure'' in the management of criminal justice. Allowing criminals to delay trial until evidence fades or witnesses can be intimidated or prosecutors plea bargain their workload away will only continue to convince criminals that their chance of escaping accountability makes the crime worth the risk.
Our justice system, for the same reasons, has lost the confidence of the public. People are convinced that the system is not stable enough to protect them, and they remain silent out of fear of retaliation by mishandled criminals. The public needs to know that its involvement will make a difference, and people need to demand responsibility from officials, whether elected or appointed.
Gun control will be unworkable as a solution as long as firearms technology exists. If we were to ban all firearm manufacturing in this country, the supply would flow from around the world, just as drugs do now. Afghans, in their defense from Soviet invaders who ``controlled'' their gun supply, were very well-equipped from Pakistan's backyard machine shops, where individuals produced very workable guns. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who are capable of making firearms privately at home.
English lawmakers, having adopted ultimate gun controls, have now graduated to ``knife control,'' while English citizens have turned to explosives as their new weapons of choice. We have never been able to deny or control any technology. Our only hope is to control the behavior of people through the responsible actions of their peers.
I hope all of Virginia will face reality and focus efforts on controlling criminals. MEMO: Robert Marcus, a resident of Norfolk, is president of Virginia Firearms
Dealers Association. by CNB