OPINION:
Evidence shows longer prison sentences do deter some crimes (“Virginia legislation could release hundreds of murderers ,” Web, Feb. 9). The New York City Criminal Justice Agency discovered last year that when juveniles were no longer prosecuted as adults — which led to them doing less time behind bars — their rates of re-offending increased. Their re-arrest rates rose from 40% to 48%. In 1998, the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when California law was changed to increase sentences for certain violent criminals, those crimes “fell by more than 10 percent relative to similar crimes not affected by the law, suggesting a large deterrent effect.”
And is mostly liberals supporting Virginia’s “second-look” legislation. When it passed the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee, only Democrats voted for it.
SYLVIE SAMPERE
Arlington, Virginia
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