IT'S TIME TO TAKE CRIME SERIOUSLY

Responding to a concern over crime in the state's urban centers expressed in a recent column, a woman from Washington, Mo., berated us for worrying about a problem that was the fault of residents living in the affected neighborhoods. The gist of her letter was that since this was a problem of the big cities, it had no bearing or interest on decent citizens who live outside the metropolitan areas. The writer's view was not unusual since one finds it not only among outstate Missourians but those who inhabit more affluent subdivisions in suburban areas.

Unfortunately, one hears similar expressions in state offices in Jefferson City, where hopefully a broader vision of the state and its needs engenders concern about all citizens regardless of their address, their household income or the color of their skin. Yet while the state searches for reasons of absolution, busily denying that it has any responsibility for those who are the victims, the criminal justice merry-go-round spins ever faster. Kansas City set a new crime record nearly two months before the year was over, while drive-by shootings killing the unsuspecting innocent become more and more commonplace in St. Louis.

The state's crime figures do not prove local and county police are not doing their jobs; arrests for serious crimes are up 18 percent in the last decade and the number of persons in state and federal prisons has doubled over the same period. The rate of serious crime per 100,000 Missourians has jumped from 5,600 to 5,900. ~H~ardly anyone now argues that all society needs to do is arrest itself from our crime catastrophe.

Fortunately, more and more experts have reached the opinion that the way to reduce criminal behavior is to provide extensive drug treatment for those who have been arrested, who are on parole and who are serving time in county and state correctional institutions. As many as 80 percent of all persons arrested for urban crime test drug-positive, a clear indication that until the state's substance abuse problem is broadly attacked, there will be no relief from spiraling crime. The figure for drug-positive arrests in outstate Missouri is somewhat smaller, and for the moment, so is the per capita crime rate. But no one doubts that rates for substance abuse in the cities will soon be replicated in the rural areas. We dare not wait that long.

Although he mentioned the problem throughout the recent campaign, there is no indication what steps, if any, the state's Governor-elect, Mel Carnahan, will recommend for the state next January. At least two of his task forces, corrections/public safety and health/mental health, will no doubt broach the subject, but whether either will attack the problem with the force needed remains unknown. We had hoped that the national urban family task force, formed months ago by President Bush and headed by our own governor, John Ashcroft, would stimulate some action but none has yet been forthcoming.

The figures for providing drug education for those already in the criminal justice system are compelling. A study in the state of California shows that offenders who used hard drugs committed 15 times as many robberies and 20 times as many burglaries as offenders who didn't. Of the 1.1 million people under the supervision of the justice system, only one in five who need help now receive it. We can't find anyone in Jefferson City who knows the figures for our state, but we have reason to believe the ratio is no better here, perhaps even somewhat worse considering the lack of adequate treatment facilities for those who voluntarily seek it.

Missouri's present drug treatment system is inadequate for a number of reasons, including shorter-than-needed stays, poor-quality staff and a glaring absence of follow-up and/or after-care facilities. The system is almost non-existent within the state's correctional units, creating even more problems for administering orderly, effective rehabilitation prisons. Thus far our state's answer to this problem has been to build more and more cells, costing more and more tax money, and the result has been more and more criminal activity, stimulated primarily by illegal drug abuse.

A reform program by the governor-elect should contain several recommendations, including a marshalling of state resources for those now in prison who are drug addicted. This segment should be required to undergo treatment and be free of substance abuse before they can even start to qualify for parole. Such services should also be extended to those currently on probation, requiring of them a complete rehabilitation before their probationary periods are ended.

Another portion of a Carnahan recommendation should be proposed legislation permitting a choice for nonviolent offenders of drug treatment or jail terms, facing the latter if they failed to complete the former. Those abusers serving time behind bars should be separated from the regular prison population, thereby reducing the cause of much violence and bettering the chances for rehabilitation by both inmate segments. The drug treatment units should include job training, social services, behavior modification and strict rules governing daily behavior. Failure to comply would mean longer periods of incarceration.

A third portion of the next administration's anti-crime program should be full funding for drug education and treatment camps for urban youths who are not yet in the criminal justice system. Enabling legislation has already been enacted by the General Assembly, but no money has been allocated because of revenue shortages. Curiously, we have been able to find tax funds to underwrite more prisons, and even build urban football stadiums and convention centers.

For the most part, Missourians find crime a serious problem. It's the solutions that haven't been taken seriously.