FORMER VA GOVERNOR CREATED BLUEPRINT FOR FUTURE STATES

Former Virginia Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen submitted a guest column to The State over the weekend saying that if South Carolina followed the model he help implement in Virginia to end the revolving-door prison system created by early-release parole programs, we would not only keep violent criminals off the street, but also curb crime overall. Allen specifically referenced Attorney General Henry McMaster’s plan to completely abolish parole and institute truth in sentencing so that all convicted criminals must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

When President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to abolish parole in the federal system in 1984, he recognized that the existing sentencing and parole system was adding to rising crime rates and was fundamentally unfair to the victims of crime and to the public. This was a major shift in criminal justice policy and served as inspiration for changes I advocated during my campaign for governor of Virginia in 1993. Parole abolition and truth-in-sentencing have worked to make Virginians safer and brought credibility to the justice system. They will work now for South Carolina, where leaders are proposing similar changes for the Palmetto State. [...]

More than ten years later, what are the results of these changes? First-degree murderers now serve 91 percent of their sentences in prison with a median time served of 32 years, rather than 12 years with parole. A sentence of “life in prison” now essentially means just that. Truth-in-sentencing fosters trust in our justice system. Judges and juries do not have to play guessing games when determining sentences. Police and crime victims have a firm idea of when a criminal will be released. Victims need not fearfully plead every year to the parole board not to release the felon. Rational and consistent sentencing fosters public confidence in our criminal justice system.

Best of all, there are thousands of people who are not victims of criminals. Since 1995, the violent crime rate in Virginia has declined by nearly 23 percent. The murder rate is down by 30 percent, and forcible rape rate has dropped by more than 15 percent. This is a logical result when one realizes that most crimes were being committed by repeat offenders. If a rapist is in prison, serving now an average sentence of 18 years rather than six, he can’t be lurking in a parking garage waiting for his next victim.

Moreover, parole abolition and truth-in-sentencing did not drastically increase our prison population, as many critics feared when the reforms were enacted. As compared to a prison population that increased by 154 percent between 1985 and 1995, growth in Virginia’s prison population slowed to 31 percent between 1995 and 2004. State officials predict an annual average growth in the prison population of 2.8 percent over next six years — much less than originally forecast, and lower than the national average.

The “many critics” Allen had in Virginia are embodied here by one man: Jon Ozmint, the Director of the state Department of Corrections. But wait, shouldn’t he, as the head of DoC, be on board with McMaster’s plan? Absolutely.

Sadly though, Ozmint can’t seem to get over the fact that McMaster schooled him in the 2002 Republican primary race for attorney general. So now it seems that he is doing everything he can to usurp the attorney general’s office — even if that means letting violent criminals go free.

In fact, it appears that his failed attempts at petty political payback have made Ozmint a true hero to criminals everwhere.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Judicial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.