41 OPINION Page 6 Tuesday, May 22, 1984 Sinclair- Vol. XCIV No. No. 9-S 94 Years of Editorial Freedom Managed and Edited by Students at The University of Michigan Editorials represent a majority opinion of theDi o Doily E ditorial Board The Michigan Daily jPAY N NIN TO THAT MANW B3EHIND TH4E CLURTAIN! Thanks, but no thanks BAD IDEAS have a way of coming back from the dead, and the mandatory seat- belt idea is no exception. This week, the state senate will begin deliberations on the safety lobby's latest attempt to protect the state's drivers from themselves. With a persistence approaching fanaticism, supporters of the cause of mandatory seat belts have come up with a compromise bill designed to allay the fears of recall-wary legislators. The latest incarnation of the bill would require everyone riding in the front seat of a car to buckle up starting in 1986 for a period of three years. Violators of the statute would be subject to a $10 fine during that period; after the three years are over, the voters would decide whether to keep the law on the books. The three-year sunset provision, the referendum provision, and the low fine are designed, of course, to weaken the arguments of those who oppose the bill on the ground that it is an unaccpetable infringement on the per- sonal liberty of Michigan drivers. But the compromise is unacceptable. If the bill was rejected before as an unacceptable intrusion into the lives of citizens, how can making that intrusion temporary or less apparent make the proposal valid? Indeed this bill suffers from the same infir- mities that afflicted its three predecessors: It ignores the fact that every person who is in- jured through the non-use of seatbelts has voluntarily assumed the risk of injury. This risk does not present a sufficiently compelling harm to society to justify any intrusion into citizens' lives. If a person wishes to take the risk of doing violence to himself and no other, he should be free to do so. His life-his liberty-belongs to himself, not to the state of Michigan, the state legislature, or safety enthusiasts. The carnage on the highways is horrible and tragic, and deaths and injuries which result from the failure of drivers and passengers to fasten seat belts are doubly so. But turning stupidity into a low-grade criminal offense is not the solution to this problem. Rather, it is an irksome and unnecessary interference in the personal affairs of the people of the state. Keeping By MichaelKroll Our nation's corrections system now inspires a grim litany of statistics. Despite a con- tinuing drop in crime rates, a greater percentage of Americans are behind bars today than at any other time in our history. In 39 states, courts have ruled that at least some of those in prison suf- fer cruel and unusual punish- ment. And 1,300 people, the largest number ever, are under sentence of death. But there is at least one ray of light in the otherwise gloomy picture, and it is in an unlikely place-the state of Utah. UTAH IS in its sixth year of ex- perimenting with a program designed to remove as many juveniles as possible from "secure detention," and to promote individualized plans for the few who do require such det- ention in small, community- based facilities. Six years ago, there were 400 kids locked up in Utah's Youth Development Center in Ogden-the former Territorial Reform School. Russel VanVleet, now state director of Youth Corrections, says, "Abuse and institutional evil" were the norm at YDC. The rate of youngsters confined, and the conditions of their confinement, were similar to those found in the rest of the country. Today, the picture is totally dif- ferent. The old center has been converted into an area oc- cupational center, and across the state only 44 young people are in secure detention, and those 44 are being housed rather than warehoused, helped rather than hurt. THIS transformation, still in progress, began with the inauguration of Gov. Scott Matheson in 1977. A Democrat willing to take chances, he ap- pointed Tony Mitchell executive director of the Utah Department of Social Service which controlled juvenile corrections. Mitchell was 36 and "very willing to take kids out of prison risks." able to establish a variety of As an employee of DSS, Mit- programs. chell had once toured the state's Youths first spend from one to juvenile facilities-and came 13 weeks in an Observation and away dismayed. Now he wanted Assessment Unit, to match them to do something about it. to appropriate programs. These Soon after he became DDD include group homes with a director, Mitchell heard a speech "Mom and Pop," as well as home by Jerome Milles, one-time head with round-the-clock therapeutic of the Massachusetts juvenile staff. There also are "proctor" justice system. Miller outlined programs in which a child lives his work there, which included with a single young adult trained moving kids from locked to act as supporter, advocate, facilities into the community. and provider. HIS SUCCESS showed on the CORRECTIONS chief Van- state's books. When Milles took Vleet believes the system works over in 1969, about 95 percent of simply "because it reduces the his budget was allocated for in- harm done to residents of large, stitutions, mostly for staff impersonal institutions." salaries, while only 5 percent Tony Mitchell, now a school went to community-based superintendent, says the effort is programs. When he left in 1974, no longer experimental. those figures were exactly rever- It may be too early to measure sed. the lasting benefits of dein- Mitchell, impressed, in- stituionalization in Utah, but troduced Miller to Matheson, who there is reason for optimism. then appointed a task force on Although it's been 10 years sin- criminal justice and later, one on ce Jerry Miller left Massachuset- the juvenile justice system. ts, fewer than 70 juveniles are At the same time, a separate locked up there-a smaller num- Youth Correctional Services unit ber than in many cities. If was formed within DSS and Mit- Massachusetts' rate of juvenile chell began taling about closing detention were applied nation- the center and moving youths in- wide, there would be only some to the community. The state's 3,000 held-about the number family judges opposed both the now locked up in Ohio alone. closing and the new division, until PERHAPS MOST telling of all, Matheson jawboned them into the proportion of adult inmates grudging accepfance. who are alumni of the juvenile THE JUVENILE Justice Task justice system has declined Force issued a comprehensive dramatically, from 46 percent report which, rather than in- when Miller took over to 19 per- spiring the inaction which usually cent today. greets such efforts, resulted in "Massachusetts (is) very dif- the systematic implementation of ferent from Utah," says Van- its recommendations-including Vleet, but the issue of dein- the closing of the 300- to 400-unit stitutionalization is a relative Youth Center, opening of two 30- one. bed "secure" facilities, and the "Each state can dein- creation of alternatives that stitutionalize. It's only a question provide continuing, in- of commitment-commitment dividualized plans. that is philosophical and As in Massachusetts, funds for political." the new system came directly out Kroll wrote this article for of the institutional budget. With Pacific News Service. His normal staff attrition, retraining PacifichNwsuSere i and some "reduction in force" research was supported by among those least able to adapt grants from the Fund for In- to the dismantling of the old vestigative Journalism and the system, the new division has been Playboy Foundation. 0