Page 4--Thursday, May 8, 1980-The Michigan Daily
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The Michigan Daily OV6s,60. Cz-
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. XC, No. 1-S
Thursday, May 8, 1980
Edited'and managed by student°
at the University of Michigan FM M 7 M'Attr0 R9 ' / r
AU& 1CGCR ( IS X THE Af6 1 157lJ
Welcome to new
city police chief
ANN ARBOR has a fine new Chief of Police in
Americanprsn fl
superiors and colleagues alike for his ad-
mnistrative ability and street sense. It is this verye r
combination which makes him a wise choice for
new Chief-his duties as Precinct Commander
But in the same breath that we wish Chief Cor-
bett d of TWOstatistical milestones were By Joseph Kelly Court-judges in rural districts
good luck in his new post, we issue a wordof passed by U.S. prisons between.and . often send felons to county jail,
caution. Corbett commented Monday night that 1975 and 1980. For the first time in dFrankVlvlano rather than to state prisons.
police problems in Ann Arbor tend to lack the com- the nation's history, the incar- Hindelang believes that blacks ACCORDING TO NEWHARD,
plexity of those problems encountered in Detroit. cerated population exceeded simply commit more offen- the same problems which mean
While this may be the case, Corbett should keep in 300,000, marking a 50 per cent in- ses-and he has completed a stiff sentences for non-whites
mind he is the first police chief who has been crease in the total number of study of more than eight million reduce their chances for early
chosen from outside the ranks of the Ann Arbor prisoners in just five years. incidents of robbery, rape and release. "Parole boards ask
And also for the first time in assault which shows them to be whether or not an applicant was
police department. Thus, Corbett is probably U.S. history, the non-white prison disproportionately involved in raised in a fatherless home, if he
unaware of any special problems that plague population became a substantial nearly all categories of personal had a job, a stable marriage or a
college towns in general or Ann Arbor specifically. majority. crime, marketable skill. From begin
Also of concern is the possibility that, due to his TODAY, 55 PER CENT of the Others claim discrimination is ning to end, the criminal justice
Dbecome somewhat men and women behind bars in central to that very problem. system favors articulate, well-
Detroit experience, Corbett has the United States are "Third "Crime is a matter of oppor- educated, well-groomed-and
desensitized to low level crime. He may have to World" Americans: blacks, tunity," observes William Nagel, white defendants.'
learn that in Ann Arbor breaking the law is the ex- Hispanics and Indians. The con- a former prison official who
ception, not the rule. sequences may be social heads the American Foundation The combined weight of im-
xcepti, for this rla o t dynamite. The recent bloody Institute of Corrections. prisonment and the inequitable
Except for his lack of college town experience, uprising in New Mexico's state "Bankers and people with large conditions which bring non-
Corbett comes to the Chief's job eminently penitentiary is viewed by some as expense accounts do not commit whites into it, and keep them
qualitied and highly recommened; his $40,000 star- the opening salvo in what could street crimes. The opportunity there longer, serves to highlight
ting salary seems to indicate the city's confidence be a decade of Third World for blacks in crime is more their differences with white
in his abilities. revolts inside U.S. prisons. Since limited and they commit ones for America. For thetquarter of all
Coret ws ndrstndbl ad isey elctntthen, riots have erupted at which they are more likely to be black men who taste life in a
Corbett was understland nd wisely reluctant prisons in New Jersey and In- prosecuted, convicted, and sent penitentiary, for instance, the
to discuss specific plans for the AAPD before diana. to jail." experience of being shut away in
assessing the department and becoming oriented. "Tensions within the system "There's a greater likelihood a cage which appears to be main-
We urge that Corbett pay close attention to the are building rapidly," concluded that you'll go to prison if you have tamed especially for blacks will
proposal for increased foot patrols on campus. a California Bar Association a juvenile record," adds be part of a common education.
W n w Cobe about study which found five state Michigan State Appellate Defen- The lesson it offers is reinfor-
When Ann Arbor welcomes aorett on or oChe penitentiaries "unfit for human der Jim Newhard. "And thanks ced by signs of unfair treatment
July 1, the city will also say farewell to Chief habitation." The study warned to the economic and social outside of the prison walls:
Walter Krasny, a 40-year veteran of the force. We "that explosions comparable to problems which cause their segregated residential housing
hope that Corbett will follow in Krasny's footsteps, what occurred at Attica in New families to deteriorate around patterns, 65 per cent unem-
especially in furthering the currently excellent York can be anticipated." them, many young blacks get into ployment among black youth in
Why this appalling imbalance? trouble when they are kids. Later the cities, schools which track
relationship between the AAPD and the UmiverThe reaons begin with on they simply graduate into the non-white Americans into
sity's Campus Security department. economics. After dropping 28 per felony system. When they guaranteed failure.
-: t Y.>=;- . .-.<. :" >'" "W - ,.<.., - cent in the Sixties, the number of become adults;they are apt to be The lesson, ultimately, is that
blacks officially classified as written off as unsalvageable, the non-white world is a separate
poor began growing once again in given harsh sentences, and put on and unequal world, and it is most
Editorial policies the Seventies. The group most the shelf inprison."instructive i the picture of a
severely hit by the combination MANY STUDIES REPORT white-dominated legal structure
of inflation and unem- Newhard's charge. In Georgia, creating a primarily Third World
Unsigned eitorials appearing on the ployment-young black men-is the number of blacks serving prison population.
Spage represent a majority lso the one most responsible for more than 30 years is more than We don't do it to our own
left side of thispaerp sntamj iy the large increase in the prison double the number of whites. An people, we do it to other people,"
opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board. population. In 1973, criminologist analysis of sentence lengths in observes Frank Dunbaugh, a
Letters and columns re sent the inions Erik Olin Wright estimated that Michigan last year showed that in white, Maryland civil rights at-
25 to 30 per cent of black men in most categories of offenses, torney. Prison isn't there to
of the individual author(s) and do not their early Twenties will spend blacks consistently received rehabilitate, it's there to hold in
necessarily reflect the attitudes or beliefs e in prison. The rate for white longer sentences. A survey of six check the tensions which'society
necesarly rflet te atitues o beief menin hatsame age group is southern states turned up eviden- finds threatening.
of the Daily. approximately seven per cent. ce of similar sentencing differen-
Cartoons frequently appear on both BUT, MAINTAINS ces.
criminologist Michael indelang, Moreover, reports Detroit Joseph Kelly is a New
the left and right side of the page; they do "Too many people for too long criminal attorney Neil York freelancer. Frank
not necessarily represent Daily opinions, have said that the only thing that Bush-whose firm fought cases Viviano is an editorfor Pacific
accounts for the higher arrest related to the Attica prison revolt News Service.
- .c. c - - £ G -&s- - rate of blacks is discrimination." all the way to the U.S. Supreme
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