ful murderers often are punished lightlv.rnThus those most likely to commit furtherrnfelonies are also those most likelv tornberel eased earlv. Crime would certainKrndiminish and become manageable if wernconfined young offenders bent on becomingrncareer criminals until, at age 45,rnthey are likely to give up crime.rnWon’t imprisonment until age 45 berntoo harsh for young criminals? Man-rnperhaps did not know what they wererndoing; shouldn’t we tr to reform ratherrnthan punish them? Unfortunately, exceptrnfor age, nothing has rehabilitatedrncriminals in significant numbers. As forrnnot knowing what they were doing, inrnour system nobody can be convicted unlessrnthe court hnds, one, that he did whatrnhe did intentionalh’; two, knew that itrnwas wrong; and, three, could have avoidedrnthe crime. The offender must havernvolunteered to risk punishment if he is tornbe convicted. Convicts therefore cannotrncomplain when what the intentionallyrnrisked actually happens. If one knowinglyrnand voluntarily takes a chance, he cannotrnobject if what he decided to risk actuallyrnoccurs.rnMight it be too expensive to keeprnrecidivist criminals in prison until agern45? Actually, it costs society less thanrnthe crimes committed when they arernreleased before age 45. Also, politiciansrnhave unnecessarily inflated the cost ofrnimprisonment. Do we really need prisonrngyms? Baseball fields? Cable TV? Mostrnnonconvicts do without. More important,rnprisoners are not expected to work,rnapart from household chores and busywork.rnUnskilled prisoners, even if expectedrnto stay for a long time, seldomrnhave a chance to acquire legitimate andrnprofitable skills. Skilled prisoners seldomrnare given a chance to use their skills.rnThis is scarcely in the social interest. Factoriesrnshould become part of all prisons.rnWith sufficient incentive pay, prisonersrnwill volunteer for work. (Those whorndon’t should not be compelled.) Inmaternworkers should retain significant earningsrnafter taxes and payments for roomrnand board have been deducted. Exceptrnfor high-security prisons, correctional institutionsrnshould be able to make a profitrnby selling their products to governmentrnagencies at market prices. To bernsure, some unions and businessmen opposernprison labor largely because in thernpast, prisoners were not paid prevailingrnwages while prison products were sold atrnbelow-market prices. Appropriate reorganizationrncan change all this and makernprison labor profitable for both inmatesrnand society. We should not pursuernschemes that defeat the punitive andrnprotective purpose of confinement, suchrnas work release, furloughs, and conjugalrnvisits. But prison factories are consistentrnwith all the purposes of confinementrnand helpful alike to prisoners and taxpayers.rnErnest van den Haag writes fromrnNew York City. New editions ofrnhis Punishing Criminals andrnThe Jewish Mystique were recentlyrnreleased by the University Press ofrnAmerica.rnGREAT TOPICS, GREAT ISSUESrnTHE GO ERNMLN I s. THE Ptopr.E— Decemberrn199^—PhihprnJenkins on cocrtrnpolicing, Da idrnKopel on childrnabuse at \