[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E325-E326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       READ A BOOK OR GO TO JAIL

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                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 13, 1995
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, in the February 5 issue of 
Parade Magazine there is an excellent article by Michael Ryan about the 
sort of program we all describe as something we would to see, but are 
rarely able to point to in fact.
  The program in question is one which seeks to keep repeat criminals 
from committing further crimes, by a program which involves repeat 
offenders in an extensive reading program.
  Of course no program is perfect, and in 4 years this program has seen 
19 percent of the participants rearrested. But as the article points 
out, the statistical expectation is that, absent this program, a far 
higher percentage of these participants would have been arrested 
again--one study showed that 45 percent would be the expected figure.
  The moving force in this program is Prof. Robert Waxler of the 
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. I have myself benefited in my 
job from the enthusiasm and knowledge that Professor Waxler brings to 
the task of educating young people, because he is an active and 
creative member of the southeastern Massachusetts community. But I ask 
that this article be reprinted here not because of my admiration for 
Professor Waxler but because it is an interesting example of how 
creative work on the local level can help us improve our efforts to 
reduce the crime which is a continuing social problem.
  Professor Waxler, and Judge Robert Kane, who has used his judicial 
position to launch this program, deserve a great deal of credit. And I 
am glad that Parade Magazine highlighted their work, and I hope that 
other areas will profit by their example. To further that prospect, I 
submit this article from Parade magazine to be reprinted here.
                  [From Parade Magazine, Feb. 5, 1995]

    These Repeat Offenders Had a Choice: Read a Book--Or Go To Jail

                           (By Michael Ryan)

       Every university has students like Don Ross: bright 
     individuals whose imaginations have caught fire with 
     learning.
       ``Yesterday, everybody at my job was talking about 
     Deliverance.'' Ross told me one afternoon at the University 
     of Masschusetts campus at Dartmouth, Mass., near Cape Cod. He 
     recently had read James Dickey's novel, a riveting tale of 
     survival. ``I started talking about how the characters 
     related to each other, and everybody looked at me and went, 
     `Whoa,' They were talking about the movie, which was on TV.''
       Ross, 27, tells this joke on himself with good humor, as 
     amused with his newfound interest in literature as anyone 
     else. The interest has unusual roots. In January 1992, a 
     judge in nearly New Bedford offered him a choice: Go to 
     school and read books--or go to jail.
       ``This was an experiment,'' said District Court Judge 
     Robert Kane, 47. ``I had no confidence that it would work, 
     but I had sufficient despair in the way we had always done 
     things.'' ``We were seeing this same faces over and over,'' 
     added Wayne St. Pierre, 39, the probation officer who helps 
     screen candidates for the program. Don Ross is one of just 
     100 repeat offenders who have entered the program. (His last 
     offense involved the illegal use of uninsured automobiles.)
       In the four years that the literature seminar has been in 
     operation, 19 percent of its participants have been 
     rearrested. A recent study by professors at the University of 
     Indiana and UMass Dartmouth found that 45 percent of a 
     similar group (matched by age, race, income, neighborhood and 
     offense) had returned to crime. In other words, the convicts 
     in the program were less than half as likely to commit new 
     crimes as those not in the program.
       ``I have always believed in the transformative power of 
     stories,'' Prof. Robert Waxler, 50, told me. ``They allow us 
     to hold up a mirror to ourselves.'' A professor of English at 
     UMass Dartmouth, he thought this power might help in 
     rehabilitating criminals. One day, he brought up the idea 
     with Judge Kane, his tennis partner. ``He was very receptive 
     to the idea,'' Waxler recalled.
       Waxler volunteered to lead a 12-week literature seminar. 
     His only stipulation that the convicts be fairly serious 
     offenders. ``The average participant has 16 prior offenses,'' 
     said St. Pierre.
       The group first reads a simple short story. Then, every 
     other week for three months, they read novels of increasing 
     complexity and meet for two-hour discussions. Only about half 
     of the participants have completed high school or earned 
     GED's, but Waxler gives them serious reading, such as Jack 
     London's Sea Wolf and Russell Banks Affliction.
       St. Perrre thinks that the challenge is part of the 
     success. ``I come from an athletic background,'' he said. ``I 
     know than when you have a tough coach who pushes you beyond 
     what you think you can do, the rewards are much greater. 
     That's what happens here.''
       ``When I first designed this, I looked for materials that 
     would address issues of identity, of violence, of the 
     individual's relationship to society,'' Waxler explained, 
     ``Often, that pushes everybody to an understanding of where 
     they fall in relation to that character.''
       ``I related to Wolf Larsen in Sea Wolf,'' said Manuel 
     Amaral, 35, a former drug addict and small-time dealer. The 
     Larsen character is a brutal ship's captain who meets a 
     grisly end. ``I was like him,'' said Amaral. ``Reading about 
     it opened my mind.'' Amaral is now drug-free and a student at 
     Bristol Community College in Fall River, Mass.
       The reading program has benefited more than the defendants. 
     Along with Waxler and some of his colleagues, St. Pierre 
     attends every session and does all of the reading. Judge Kane 
     also attends but begins with the third session to avoid 
     intimidating students.
       ``One night, we were reading Norman Mailer's An American 
     Dream,'' the judge recalled. ``There's a scene between a 
     judge and a prostitute, and the people in the course started 
     talking about the misuse of judicial power. I realized that 
     it was important that I hear that. It has made me more 
     expansive.''
       Mark MacMullen, 40, also was a drug abuser. Now he is a 
     full-time student at 
     [[Page E326]] UMass Dartmouth and has regained visitation 
     rights to his two children. ``I learned that Wayne St. Pierre 
     is more than my probation officer--he's a human being,'' he 
     said, ``and Judge Kane is a human being, and they cared about 
     me. That's made me care about me and start making the right 
     choices.''
       The program has strict rules. While studying, participants 
     are on probation and live at home. Anyone who misses class or 
     skips readings can be sent to prison. Program graduates 
     remain on probation and must attend a one-day career 
     workshop. They must then make a career choice or plans that 
     will increase employment opportunities, such as obtaining a 
     GED or going to college. If they don't, they can be sent to 
     prison.
       The UMass Dartmouth program accepts only male offenders. 
     There are now similar programs, for men and women, in the 
     state--and more judges are studying it. ``They should try 
     it,'' Judge Kane said, ``The things that are said here are 
     more interesting than the conversation in the judges' 
     lobby.''
       Don Ross--the fan of Deliverance, the book--said the course 
     taught him to accept responsibility for the first time. ``The 
     day I came before Judge Kane was the turning point. That 
     transformation has been gradual, week after week, book after 
     book.''
       ``This has taught me,'' he said, ``to use my mind.''
       

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