LAWYER: VIOLENT CRIME WARRANTS EXTREME MEASURES

Don Hager believes only baseball is innocent enough to allow the batter three strikes before he's out.

In the arena of violent crime, Hager feels strongly that there are cases when one strike is all that's needed to put the offender behind bars for the duration of his or her sentence.

If Hager could enact his version of a more extreme penal system than the one that exists, he would also strip the violent offender of his or her civil rights for the duration of the sentence.

"The research I've done on prisons and violent crime shows that it costs $20,000 to $30,000 a year to lock them up," said Hager, 45, an attorney who was a prosecutor from 1980-82 and a public defender from 1982-90.

Hager is currently working for a private law firm in Farmington.

"I don't think you should wait until the third violent crime to force the offender to serve the full sentence," he said.

Thus Hager believes he has drafted something better than the three-strikes-you're out law involving a broad range of crimes, many of which are not necessarily of a violent nature. The law was passed by 76 percent of voters in November.

The law states that third-time offenders of various crimes would get life in prison with no chance for parole or time off for good behavior.

Hager has drafted what he hopes will one day become the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, enabling elected officials to "certify" individuals who have committed the most violent crimes.

"What is at issue, really, is a tradeoff of taking away civil liberties against a potentially lower crime rate," said Hager.

Cape County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle believes Hager has gone too far in his attempt to lower the rate of violent crimes.

"The criminal justice system isn't perfect, but it's still the best in the world," said Swingle. "Mr. Hager's proposed constitutional amendment goes too far in repealing traditional civil rights. He is proposing heart surgery for a patient when a hernia operation is all that is needed."

Said Hager, "My first draft still allows for someone to be found innocent by evidence that would come up after that person has been sentenced,.

"You could be certified and then released after evidence -- perhaps uncovered by the family or members of the media -- shows that the crime was committed by someone else."

Under Hager's amendment, however, a prisoner who has been certified loses all right to appeal.

Swingle opposes such a move, saying it would open the doors to widespread abuse.

"This amendment would allow police to violate constitutional search and seizure and interrogation rights with absolute immunity," said Swingle.

"There is just too great a chance for abuse. The system needs changes, but that can be accomplished much more simply by enacting truth in sentencing," added Swingle. "We shouldn't give the prison system the authority to release these people any earlier than their sentence says they should be released. If the offense is for 50 or 85 percent of the sentence, then let's be truthful about that and have them serve exactly that."

Hager believes the current system allows career criminals to move through a revolving door that is too expensive to operate.

"It is costing so much when someone serves only a small portion of his sentence and then is sent right back to prison when he commits another crime," said Hager.

"What I want to do is force prisoners to live in a facility that provides the bare essentials with no freedom to play basketball, use a library or make appeal after appeal while they are serving their sentence to the full extent," he said.

One of his proposals is to use vacated military facilities to house certified prisoners. "As far as I know, there are several military bases that have been evacuated that could be used for prison space," he said.

Said Swingle,"I don't think it's necessary to repeal the Bill of Rights here. People who commit violent crimes don't become pieces of meat."

Hager first got the idea for his proposed constitutional amendment after being inundated with news of violent crimes in the Midwest during a short time span.

"We have witnessed the disappearance and apparent murder of a retired Methodist minister and his wife, who were taken from their rural home," he said. "More than one young girl has been abducted and has disappeared while en route to and from school in St. Louis. The body of one of the girls was found, reportedly badly mutilated. An inner city mother was shot and killed in her kitchen while preparing a meal for her small children, who were present. The list of crimes just goes on and on," he said.

"What I want to do is take the appeal process away and not make judges deal with the most violent criminals," said Hager.

Hager has sent his first draft to President Bill Clinton and has also sent copies to elected officials and members of the media.

"What I want is to get this into serious discussion on a national level," said Hager. "This is not a superficial piece of work. I've put a lot of thought and research into it. I'm hoping to get this publicized nationally and open it up for objective discussion."

Said Swingle,"I applaud Mister Hager on the time and energy he spent on this. But I think we would do better to work on improving the laws we already have on the books."