Atlanta Journal-Cons…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, page 1:

Mindful of the political perils, the state Parole Board has begun talking about softening a get-tough-on-crime policy that has helped pack Georgia’s prisons.

At a recent out-of-town retreat, parole board members discussed rules passed in 1998 that required felons convicted of one of 20 offenses to serve at least 90 percent of their sentence. They asked staffers to study the impact of the policy, expressing concerns about its fairness and its effect on a growing prison population.

“You know we have some problems with it,” parole board member Eugene Walker told board attorney Tracy Masters. “Help validate the kinds of concerns we’re raising and why we need to change it.”

AJC, same issue, not on page 1:

The nation’s crime rate last year held steady at the lowest levels since the government began surveying crime victims in 1973, the Justice Department reported Sunday.

The study was the latest contribution to a decade-long trend in which violent crime as measured by victim surveys has fallen by 55 percent and property crime by 49 percent. That has included a 14 percent drop in violent crime from 2000-2001 to 2002-2003.

“The rates are the lowest experienced in the last 30 years,” Justice Department statistician Shannan Catalona said in the report. “Crime rates have stabilized.”

Hmm, which would I rather have; more crime or crowded prisons? And do ya’ think that the two stories are related somehow? Do we need to change a policy that is reducing crime?

Does anyone at the AJC notice this? Do they read their own paper?

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