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View from around the state: More leaders want to be smart on crime

By: Associated Press//December 31, 2014//

View from around the state: More leaders want to be smart on crime

By: Associated Press//December 31, 2014//

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— From the Wisconsin State Journal

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, is talking about “unreasonably long sentences” that “may actually make people more likely to return to crime.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, wants to expand prison work-release programs in Wisconsin to “break the cycle” of recidivism.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, has called for more specialty courts for alcohol abusers to better address drunken driving.

Attorney General-elect Brad Schimel is similarly focused on encouraging treatment for addictions.

None of these leaders are about to abandon tough-on-crime measures protecting the public from the worst and most violent criminals. But the Republicans who control the statehouse and Congress increasingly talk about being smart on crime and giving those who show initiative a fresh shot at life.

Democrats should help refine and improve the GOP’s ideas, rather than reflexively dismissing this welcome trend.

It wasn’t that long ago, after all, that former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle was touting a tough approach to crime. Yet by the end of his administration in 2010, the state prison population had fallen for two straight years, with more attention to drug and alcohol treatment, anger management, job training, education and community support for offenders leaving prison.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker reversed or slowed some of Doyle’s initiatives. Yet Walker entered office four years ago favoring efforts to keep more people from reaching prison in the first place. That’s a smart approach, though it needs more attention and follow-through.

Nobody in power is talking about letting the worst offenders off easy. In fact, Walker has refused to even consider issuing pardons, while limiting parole. The public expects caution with killers, rapists and the most violent criminals in prison.

But more support for prison diversion programs for lesser crimes makes sense. So do job placement strategies.

Vos recently told the State Journal editorial board that his view changed after a friend at a temporary employment agency convinced him to hire inmates at Vos’ factory through a work-release program. More than 40 nonviolent criminals helped Vos’ manufacturing and packaging company fill a big order from a new customer. He said he paid $10 to $12 per hour, with the inmates receiving minimum wage and the rest of the money going to the agency.

A few of the inmates eventually became permanent employees.

“It made me realize that there is a better hope for redemption than some people in my party believe,” Vos said.

Helping more people with criminal records find jobs will be a priority for Republicans who run the state Assembly in the coming year, the speaker said. He wants more Wisconsin prisons to set up opportunities for eligible inmates to work with private temporary employment agencies.

Wisconsin spends more of its tax dollars on prisons and other correctional operations than it spends on the University of Wisconsin System. So there’s a lot of room for improvement.

A looming state budget deficit will complicate reform efforts. Nonetheless, Republicans who run the statehouse should recognize the huge cost of locking people up.

Most inmates will eventually get out. So let’s help more of them find employment and deal with their addictions and underlying problems.

Let’s keep the momentum going for a smarter approach to crime in Wisconsin.

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