Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms

REFORMING OHIO’S CORRECTIONS PROGRAM

    The topics of Crime and Employment are connected here because the facts prove that high unemployment correlates directly to higher crime rates.  Thus, lowering unemployment should lower crime. But everyone has something critical to say about our criminal justice system. How many of these complaints are followed by a worthwhile solution to the problem? The problems in our penal system are not unique to Ohio. The same problems are faced by communities all around the world. The primary focus of Ohio’s penal system should be on the rehabilitation of the inmate with a secondary emphasis on punishment through incarceration. I never want to be perceived as “soft on crime,” but there are more effective systems that could reduce the recidivism rate of those currently released from the system.

    Our current governor has gone to extraordinary measures to keep an issue off the election ballot. The issue to be presented to Ohio voters would only permit the courts to sentence first and second-time non-violent drug offenders to rehabilitation centers and NOT jail or prison. Apparently, our current governor does not have faith in Ohio’s citizenry to make the proper vote. Thus, he wants to keep it off the ballot entirely. He claims this would undermine the “carrot stick” philosophy of our current system. I encourage you all to investigate this for yourself.

    Crime will always be a problem in society. But I believe it can be reduced through a more effective approach. Violent offenders are part of a different criminal class and should be treated as such with harsh sentencing. But it is the first-time, non-violent offender that deserves every chance at rehabilitation. Locking up a non-violent drug offender with violent offenders can only make him worse. The decision does not necessarily rest with society as a whole, but in the heart and will of the offender to decide whether or not he will change his ways. If he repeats his offense, then he makes our decision for us and deserves his punishment because we must remove these “predators” to protect the rest of society.

    However, it is my plan to introduce legislation that will require an exhaustive, comprehensive evaluation of our penal system to determine how our tax dollars can best be spent. I want to see greater emphasis put on the opinions of those currently working in the system. I would seek the termination of any program that does not demonstrate marked success at reducing the recidivism rate, and conversely, I would vigorously support any pilot program that proved more effective. I have read reports on rehabilitation programs that offer not only drug treatment, but also job training and placement combined with close supervision of probation officers that have proven to be successful in reducing the recidivism rate. These are the model programs we might want to follow in reforming our current penal system.

    Modifying the juvenile justice system is another critical element in reform.  I want to see more efforts placed on rehabilitating juvenile offenders.  Of course there are those which commit serious adult crimes and deserve adult punishment.  But in the Miami Valley, we have seen two very successful alternatives to warehousing juvenile offenders in the institution.  Both the George Foster Home in Dayton and the David Brown Home in Troy provide for worthwhile alternatives, and I believe these programs can be implemented throughout the state as a means of turning around the life of a misguided youth.  If that can be achieved, there is one less adult criminal to deal with in our criminal justice system.

Paid for by the Committee to elect Whitman and Clark. 

Treasurer, Lana Whitman, 3716 Co. Rd. 31 South, Bellefontaine, OH 43311