The evidence shows shortening the jail terms of violent criminals has been disastrous. Convicts who have been caught and released by an ineffective justice system are the single gravest threat to the lives and property of Americans.

• Forty-three percent of all felons released early are rearrested for another felony within 3 years.

• Another 10 percent disappear after failing to report to their probation officers.

• Offenders on parole, probation or pretrial release commit nearly 700,000 additional violent crimes each year, according to the FBI.

As things now stand, crime is not a particularly risky activity.

• Only 45 percent of all violent crimes, and only 18 percent of property crimes, are now cleared by arrest.

• Only one person out of every five arrested for a violent felony is subsequently convicted and then sentenced to at least a year in prison.

• Only 49 percent of those arrested for homicide serve a term of one year or more, and for rapists the figure is 29 percent.

Criminals who are incarcerated typically spend just over two years in confinement -- serving only one-third of their sentences on average.

Four out of every five state prison inmates are repeat offenders. Almost half of them are in the midst of at least their fourth sentence.

A study released in 1994 by the American Legislative Exchange Council shows that a strict incarceration policy pays off for society.

• The study found that in the 10 states with the biggest increase in incarceration rates since 1980, violent crime rates fell 8 percent.

• In the ten states with the smallest increase in incarceration, violent crime increased 51 percent.

And despite anti-incarceration sentiment, the lockup practice is still low:

• The total number of criminals locked up per violent crime committed is currently one-third lower than it was in 1960.

• Only 8 new convicts were put behind bars in 1993 for every 100 violent crimes carried out during the year.

Policy analysts who have studied these figures are left with one response -- to keep predators away from society, build more prisons.

Source: Karl Zinsmeister (The American Enterprise), "Crimebusting Tips for Clinton," Washington Times, February 1, 1996.