PERSPECTIVE: Former Gov. Allen was right

As former governors, George Allen and Tim Kaine have lengthy records to run on — and, sometimes, to run from. Both of their tenures were mixed. But Allen can claim to have improved Virginia immeasurably through one of his most controversial proposals: abolishing parole.

That reform now is widely accepted. At the time, though, it was hugely controversial. Democrats fought it bitterly. The NAACP tried to portray it as hostile to African-Americans — the Richmond chapter went so far as to say it resembled "Hitler's annihilation of the Jews and the principle of modern-day ethnic cleansing." The ACLU attacked it on a variety of grounds, including cost — a rare detour into fiscal conservatism for the civil-liberties group — and its effect on children and families.

Many also challenged the idea that holding offenders longer would cut crime rates. When Richard Kern, the late state criminologist, produced a study showing parole abolition could prevent more than 100,000 serious crimes over a decade and benefit racial minorities the most, skeptics scoffed. One Democratic delegate pointed out that the study "doesn't say that others are not committing offenses," and predicted that "the overall impact on the crime rate" from abolishing parole would be "minimal."

Parole abolition was enacted in 1995, when criminologists were anticipating a crime tsunami. That wave never materialized. Violent crime rates nationwide are at 40-year lows, despite a recession. A variety of explanations have been offered, from community policing to the availability of abortion. Many also credit a nationwide get-tough approach after decades of what Allen used to call "liberal, lenient" criminal-justice policies.

We come now to Jamal Louis Clemons, the suspect in a double homicide committed on Christmas Eve. As a news story noted, Clemons has an extensive criminal record that includes arrests for larceny, drug possession, child endangerment, trespassing, eluding police, probation violations and more. On Dec. 23 he was released from a Hanover jail, where he had served time for probation violations. Within 24 hours, he allegedly had killed two people. Had Clemons served more time, Edward Lee Bowmer and Rhonda Sheryl Clapp would be alive today.

At least, they would be alive according to Allen's theory that locking up career criminals prevents crime. According to Allen's critics, it wouldn't matter if Clemons had stayed behind bars — because someone else would have killed Bowmer and Clapp anyway. Allen's theory might not be perfect. But it is better than his critics' theories, which have proven to be perfect nonsense.