THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
``Allen's criminal rhetoric'' (editorial, Aug. 8) faulting Governor Allen's emphasis on keeping violent criminals behind bars was divorced from reality.
Echoing the Democrats' mantra in this campaign season, you charge the governor with rejecting investment in crime prevention. You neglected to share these facts:
The commonwealth of Virginia currently spends $700 million each biennium on various prevention programs.
With that level of prevention spending, this state spends more for prevention every 24 months than the governor has proposed to spend on new prison construction during the entire next decade.
Governor Allen last year supported and signed into law an increase of more than $100 million in school funding targeted specifically at ``at risk'' children.
Most important, you completely missed the point of the governor's speech to the Fraternal Order of Police: Virginia must either build the prisons needed to house violent criminals or return to the failed policies of releasing them early back into our communities.
In the past election, the overwhelming majority of Virginians rejected the liberal-parole and early-release policies of the prior Democrat administrations, which had caused violent crime in Virginia to skyrocket.
Among the notable features of that failed parole system:
Criminals were released after serving as little as one-sixth of their sentences.
First-degree murderers on average served about 10 years in prison, and rapists and robbers were released after serving an average of about four years.
Every 23 minutes, another Virginian was being murdered, raped or robbed.
Three out of four (75 percent) of these violent crimes were committed by repeat offenders who had been released back into our communities.
From your editorial, it is obvious you agree with those Democrats who want to obstruct Governor Allen's criminal-justice reforms and deny his truth-in-sentencing program a chance to succeed in reducing crime.
Scoring points by trashing prison spending is easy - no one likes to spend tax dollars on something as inherently negative as prisons. But if you are going to parrot the Democrats' plaint about prison spending, at least be honest with your readers and acknowledge the only alternative: a return to the Democrats' failed policies of liberal parole and early release for violent criminals.
FRANK B. ATKINSON
Counselor to the governor
Richmond, Aug. 8, 1995 by CNB