Leaders urged to take long view

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina risks more violence and increased prison costs if legislators fail to think long term or pump new money into community-based services for criminals.

That's the message from University of South Carolina criminal justice experts Eric Sevigny and Benjamin Steiner after their review of the state Sentencing Reform Commission's report that lays out a plan to address shortcomings in the criminal justice system.

Sevigny and Steiner said the commission provides legislators with a solid vision, but the recommendations need to be taken as a whole.

"There is, as I see it, an incredible danger with a lot of these things getting enacted piecemeal that could worsen the problem," Sevigny said.

Ignoring the problem isn't much of an option either.

"If we don't do anything, we'll build more prisons, spend more money on corrections, spend less money elsewhere, the crime rate will be the same, or as some evidence is starting to suggest, it might even increase," Steiner said.

But competing for the part-time Legislature's time and attention between now and summer adjournment are a flat-lined economy, staggering unemployment costs and a looming general election.

Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Hartsville Democrat who led the commission, filed a bill Feb. 9 to implement the commission's 24 recommendations. Proposals include classifying more offenses as violent, giving drug users and other nonviolent offenders probation instead of prison time and arming probation and parole agents with resources to better judge who under their watch is likely to commit violent crime.

The core of the plan is to leave prison beds open for the most violent offenders while shifting nonviolent offenders to community-basedprograms for supervision, treatment and rehabilitation. Money saved could be shifted from the prisons to currently overwhelmed probation and parole services.

The recommendations could save more than $92 million in corrections costs in the next five years and prevent the need to build a $317 million prison, according to the report.

Malloy told his fellow senators when he filed that the bill that its bipartisan support indicates the strength of the plan. He expects the legislation to get its first legislative vetting before the end of the month.

The full effect of the commission's vision for criminal justice reform could take five to 10 years to realize, Steiner said. Legislators must make a commitment for the long term, including paying up front to keep the community safe by investing in probation and parole services and regularly evaluating and tweaking new programs, he said.

"Long term, the plan can save considerable money and potentially reduce crime," Steiner said. "Short term, there is going to be costs. ... It is obviously going to be tough to sell to taxpayers."

Sevigny said if the recommendations are adopted, South Carolina would be following a national shift in the way criminals are punished.

"This isn't about being soft on crime; it's about being smart on crime," Sevigny said.