EVIDENCE LACKING

I write in response to Bob Ray Sanders' May 25 column which supported
continued funding of "boot camps" for young criminal offenders. I agree
with Sanders' call to maintain the funding for drug treatment as there is
significant evidence that treatment of drug abusers is a much more
cost-effective method than simple and costly incarceration. However, I
disagree with Sanders' support for "boot camps." There is little evidence
that boot camps are successful at preventing or reducing recidivism and
there are serious problems throughout the United States with the abuse of
inmates in these programs.

Citing a study by the Koch Crime Institute, an article that appeared in the
Jan. 2, 2000, Orange County Register said: "... recidivism among boot-camp
attendees ranged from 64 percent to 75 percent, slightly higher than for
youths sentenced to adult prisons." This same article also mentioned
problems of abuse in the states of Colorado, North Dakota and Arizona which
were severe enough that they dropped their programs, while Florida and
California were scaling back theirs, and Maryland was undergoing a stunning
revelation of abuse within its own boot-camp program.

It is tantalizing to implement programs thinking that we are doing
something about a problem, but the final analyses should be based on solid
evidence and that evidence indicates "boot camps" are not effective and
prone to serious problems of abuse.

Greg Schorr
The Woodlands