daily nebraskan
pageS
monday, august 24, 1931
Brimming prisons
Continued from Page 4
A recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics
offers strong support for financial restitution as one alter
native. The report contends, "most victimizations lead to
losses that seem readily manageable through restitution
programs.
The only exception cited by the report - "Restitution
of Victims of Personal and Household Crimes - is auto
theft, where one-third of the losses exceeded $1,000. And
even so, only 32 percent of auto thefts resulted in no
recovery of the loss.
The strongest argument against restitution as an alter
native to prison is that it makes crime an even bet; at
worst a thief will have to give back what he stole. Never
theless, in purely pragmatic terms, it seems to work.
Since the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
started developing and testing restitution programs in
1976, mostly for juvenile offenders, 87 percent of the
eligible juveniles successfully completed their restitution
agreements, and less than 15 percent were rearrested for
new offenses. Thus it appears that restitution is not only
more practical than new prison construction but also
more effective in terms of crime reduction.
And not just for juveniles. A 1978 survey of 40 adult
restitution programs also showed encouraging results.
Renshaw warns that a major shift to restitution would
be followed by an apparent increase in criminal activity.
This is so, he said, because the possibility of restitution
would probably increase the reporting of crimes that now
go unreported.
"Law-entorcement otticials as well as victims may De
influenced to take actions in cases previously considered
trivial where the potential benefit is not direct and the
sanction (restitution) is more certain. he said.
Probably the biggest obstacle to restitution and other
non-prison alternatives is the notion that anything short
of imprisonment amounts to softness on crime. That may
change as more of us come to understand the degree to
which imprisonment increases criminality.
Besides, wouldnt most victims of nonviolent ottenses
get more satisfaction from restitution than from learning
that the criminal has been packed off to prison?
(c) 1931 Tht Washington Post Company
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