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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > February > 06 > Entry
Editorial: ‘Truth-in-sentencing’ shouldn’t be fad
If Gov. Ted Strickland weren’t taking a special interest in prisons, that would be odd. He was for a while a prison psychologist.
One benefit of that personal experience is that he understands that prisons are hugely expensive enterprises. And no one needs to tell him that Ohio is not exactly rolling in money these days.
Purely and simply, saving money is behind the governor’s suggestion — in his proposed budget — to allow prisoners to earn early release for behaving.
Inmates would have to do more than stay out of fights; they’d also have to participate in educational or vocational or treatment programs (which, incidentally, there’s often a waiting list for). In return, they could earn up to seven days of credit each month.
If the idea is approved, Ohio will be resurrecting an old policy. The state did away with most “good time” credit when its “truth-in-sentencing” law took effect in July, 1996. The law was changed partly because criminals weren’t serving the sentences victims and the public thought were being imposed. “Good time” routinely cut a prisoner’s actual time behind bars by a third.
That practice existed not just to give prisoners an incentive to stay in line. Prisons then, as they still are today, were bulging.
When the law took effect, the Columbus Dispatch wrote:
“Both supporters and critics agree that the bill was driven by the state’s prison capacity, not a desire to get tough on crime. The new sentencing guidelines, while more definite, seek to channel only the most serious and violent felons into state institutions.
“Most people convicted of fourth- and fifth-degree felonies will be diverted into community-based correction programs, which include probation, community service, electronic monitoring, drug treatment, restitution and short sentences in county jails. The new sentence guidelines are supposed to reduce the prison growth rate from 10 percent to 5 percent annually, cutting the cost of constructing new penitentiaries.”
So much for those ambitions.
Many of the problems that the 1996 law was supposed to address are still with us. But even as there are still too few halfway houses, treatment programs and so on, if a judge does sentence someone to 10 years, the offender really will come close to being behind bars for a decade.
As smart and cost-effective as it would be to address — again — the lack of alternatives to prison, the governor needs to think long and hard about backing so much “earned time.” Instead, he could just say that some crimes carry sentences that are too stiff (if that’s what he believes).
Or he could keep working on resolving where to put offenders who aren’t dangerous and who are going to serve less than a year in prison anyway. An estimated 57 percent of inmates will be locked up for that short amount of time, even without getting “earned” credit.
Over and over proponents of Ohio’s truth-in-sentencing law said the justice system needed to be honest about what a sentence really amounted to. They said nothing less than the system’s credibility was at stake when a judge’s pronouncements didn’t match up with reality — and they were right.
Allowing for “good time” isn’t ridiculous. One goal of rehabilitation ought to be gaining an understanding of consequences — both bad and good.
At the same time, it’s also important that when judges, of all people, look defendants and victims in the eye, they are speaking the truth.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Ellen Belcher, Law Enforcement, State politics
Comments
By Muhammad Daheem
February 7, 2009 6:14 AM | Link to this
Violent crimes occur because of brute force in human nature. It should be disciplined and used for the good of mankind. A number of prisoners may just need psychological treatment.