page 8
daily nebraskan
friday, September 25, 1981
Task force
Continued from Page 1
Kreiziner said he has only reviewed a packet of materi
als sent to him at this point, and until after the group's
first meeting, he couldn't suggest any specific recommen
dations. The task force is comprised of members with a wide
range of backgrounds, McGee said.
"They were chosen after it was agreed on the classifica
tions that should be represented," he said.
"We needed a well-rounded committee, with various
3reas of expertise on it," McGee said.
The committee's recommendations will go to the city
council first, and then to the planning commission, where
they will be evaluated as part of the city's Comprehensive
Plan, McGee said.
Finally, a proposal will be translated into a formal reso
lution, and if it is accepted, a planning consultant will be
hired.
The resolution forming the task force provides the
members one year from Sept. 14, the day they were ap
pointed, to come up with a plan, McGee said.
Prison crowding will force reform criminologist
By Susan Mac Donald
A rapidly changing, heterogeneous society and shallow
thinking on the part of some corrections officials have con
tributed to the poor condition of the United States cor
rectional system, a criminologist said Thursday. And, he
added, unless changes are made, the future of corrections
in America looks bleak.
Harry E. Allen, a professor of criminal justice at San
Jose State University and the president-elect of the Amer
ican Society of Criminology, told a large audience in the
Rostrum of the Nebraska Union that corrections authori
ties have erred in predicting future crime rates.
He said officials have failed to appreciate that people
move selectively into urban areas. Allen said their children
are paying the price in terms of delinquency.
Officials also have failed to appreciate the closing of
economic structures and opportunities for employment,
he said.
Too many 'have nots
"People are coming to urban settings with minimal em
ployment skills," Allen said. This has produced several gen
erations of "have nots," he said.
These errors were noticed in the early 1970s, Allen said.
There are more than 320.000 people in the United States
under correctional restraint of some sort, and Allen said
this figure is increasing steadily.
'The basic causes of crime lie in the social fabric," Al
len said. Overcrowding in prisons is so serious that 19
states are under court order to reduce their prison popu
lations. Allen said. He said many lawsuits have been filed
over prison conditions, and this is going to continue.
Inmates are seeking relief, Allen said, by forming unions
and other groups to pressure prison administrators into
changing practices. Inmates have gone to court over poor
conditions and won, he said. Prison administrators are be
coming cautious because they think almost anything they
do will be challenged in court, he said.
It is also becoming increasingly expensive to maintain
prisons, Allen said. It now costs 530,000 to S60.000 just
Six neighborhoods
to show, celebrate
year-long project
By Martin Neary
History will come to life in the County-City Building
on Nov. 15 when an oral history of six Lincoln neighbor
hood groups will be presented to the public.
The six neighborhoods - North Bottoms, South Salt
Creek, College View, Near South, Yankee Hill and Uni
versity Place - will celebrate the culmination of year
long oral history projects.
Each neighborhood has created and will display a slide
and tape show illustrating how people were affected by
their neighborhood and the impact people have had in
their area. The presentation, which will include a video
show, will identify long-time residents, display artifacts
and highlight change in life styles.
"We find these neighborhood histories all intertwined "
said Barbara Hager, project director. Hager said one goal
of the project is to assist the neighborhoods in discovering
a sense of history within their areas.
Another goal is to help neighborhood associations find
people who may become active members, Hager said. The
oral histories should be viewed as an on-going project to
collect oral history through older residents, she said.
In addition to the amount of time and energy neighbor
hood committees have donated, Hager said UNLhas played
an intricate role. Ten interns worked with the groups and
two graduate students, Kathy Fimple and Sue Conley,
are co-chairpersons.
The internships and the entire oral history project are
financed by a $19,000 grant from the Nebraska Commit
tee for the Humanities. Mini-grants from the same source
have pushed the funding to about $25,000, Hager said.
After the celebration, which Hager termed only the be
ginning, a tape and transcript of the project will be do
nated to the Nebraska State Historical Society.
The celebration will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the
main lobby of the County-City Building, 555 S. 10th St.
to open a prison cell, he said, and every person in America
pays about SI 08 a year to keep up the criminal justice
system.
If trends continue Allen said, by the year 2000 it will
cost $300 per person in the United States to maintain the
system. He projected there will be 1.2 million people in
carcerated by then, with a cost of $33,000 per inmate
per year for prison maintenance.
Resources are not expendable, Allen said. "Corrections
will have to do better with less (in the future)," he said.
Increase probation
Allen said too many persons are being sent to prison
and alternatives should be used. The use of probation
should increase. He suggested the state pay subsidies to
local communities for increased use of probation. He also
said short-term incarceration and parole will be more fre
quently used.
As a long range alternative, Allen said corrections de
partments should be combined into one agency and con
trolled at the state level. He said this idea of relieving coun
ties of correctional responsibility would be "wildly unpop
ular," due to political differences between state and local
governments.
Allen also suggested giving convicted criminals the
choice of treatment or punishment. This approach, which
Allen said would meet much resistance, would require
criminals to enter a treatment program, or serve a flat
time sentence without parole that would be multiplied
if the offender committed another crime. He said the idea
is to make the person responsible for his own behavior.
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Daily Nebraskan photo
Harry E. Allen, a professor of criminal justice at San
Jose University and president-elect of the American
Society of Criminology, told an audience in the Ne
braska Union Rostrum that the fabric of society is
responsible for crime.
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