A SECOND CHANCE MAKES SENSE FOR ALL

The number of adult Americans caught up in the criminal justice system is an
astonishing 6.6 million people, either imprisoned, on parole or on
probation.

Equally astonishing is the fact that one-fourth of the prison population is
incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses -- a response that has failed to
stem the drug problem and often increases the likelihood that a person will
return to drug abuse and be rearrested.

Adding to the prison population is a sizable number of mentally ill inmates.
They comprise 16 percent of inmate populations but only 5 percent of the
general society. Prison stays for them tend to be longer, and, once
released, they are more likely to return to prison.

A further social harm is that 1.5 million American children are growing up
with a parent in prison, which sharply increases the children's chances of
ending up in a life of crime.

Currently, more than a half-million inmates get released from the nation's
jails each year. Many ex-convicts represent a potential significant social
harm to their home communities as they are simply "dumped" on the street.
They are often bitter and possess few job and life skills.

Instead, while still in prison, they should be offered programs that provide
job skills. Gradual transition to the community through halfway houses can
further assist reintegration into the community.

Prevention and rehabilitation programs are valuable in addressing the needs
of the overwhelming number of individuals involved in the criminal justice
system. Prevention and rehabilitation efforts, and restitution programs, are
tailored to nonviolent offenders. Giving them a second chance to turn their
lives around makes good sense for all -- the community and the offenders.

While such efforts restore some humanity to our criminal justice system,
they also are more cost-effective than incarceration. It takes time to see
the impact of prevention efforts. However, a commitment to this approach is
also a step toward providing insurance against future drug epidemics.

Where would the money come from? A commitment to rehabilitation and
prevention often requires diverting money away from building and maintaining
more prisons and into the funding of rehabilitation programs and halfway
houses. In this approach, illegal drug use and abuse is looked upon as a
disease, not a crime, which, in turn, reduces the size of the prison
population and the need for more prison construction, leaving currently
existing prisons for violent offenders.

Centre County does maintain a heavy emphasis on education and rehabilitation
services as a part of the criminal sentence. Our judges determine an
appropriate sentence, and, thereafter, educational and rehabilitative
services become available for most incarcerated individuals through the
court system, which includes the probation department and the offices of the
district justices.

While many question the value of such programs for already- incarcerated
adults, few would consider such an investment unreasonable for juveniles.
Research points out that two-thirds of all juvenile inmates will occupy jail
cells through a significant part of their adult lives. Interrupting this
process through counseling and support services for youth and families with
complex problems or providing after-school, community-based programs is
definitely worthwhile.

Compare mentoring and after-school programs, which cost $300 to $500 per
child annually, to juvenile lockups, costing upwards of $60,000 annually.
Compare intensive group-home services, heavily utilized by the Centre County
courts, to large institutional lockups where there is little opportunity, if
any, to address the needs of young people who are still in the process of
developing their value system, decision-making tools and deciding what
direction they will pursue in their adult lives.

Whether the focus is first-offender adults incarcerated for drug possession
or young people in need of intervention, the use of prevention
rehabilitation programs makes sense for the individual, the justice system,
the community and the nation.