ASHINGTON - Vice President Al Gore yesterday proposed spending $500 million to help states test and treat drug addicts who pass through the criminal justice system, a move Gore said would reduce repeat criminal offenses.
Outlining his strategy for crime control in an address delivered in Atlanta, the presumptive Democratic nominee urged a policy of ''get clean to get out, stay clean to stay out'' to keep released prisoners from returning to a life of crime.
The proposal was noteworthy for its deviation from the punishment-focused, tough-on-crime message candidates in both parties have sought to convey. Crime-control packages on Capitol Hill as well have tended toward increasing penalties for criminals, including expanding the death penalty.
Crime continues to show up in opinion polls as an important concern to voters, although crime is decreasing nationwide.
Many criminal justice specialists say drug treatment is the best way to stop repeat offenders. ''Studies show it's just about the best investment you can make right now in the criminal justice system,'' said William Williford, assistant commissioner for program services in the New York State Department of Correctional Services.
With an estimated 75 percent of the 1.8 million people incarcerated nationwide suffering from a drug or alcohol abuse problem, ''there's a lot of treatment beds needed,'' said Williford.
Only 10 to 15 percent of inmates needing treatment are getting it, Williford said.
The federal government already spends more than $3 billion a year for drug treatment in state and federal prisons, said Robert Weiner, spokesman for White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey. ''Drug treatment is tough on crime because it stops crime,'' Weiner said.
Gore, in his speech, criticized Texas Governor George W. Bush, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on his approach to crime control, an issue on which the Republicans traditionally have an edge in voter polls.
''We know that breaking the cycle of drug addiction is essential to fighting crime'' and reducing the rate former convicts commit new crimes, ''yet George W. Bush slashed drug treatment and alcohol treatment programs for Texas prisoners,'' Gore told law enforcement officers, community leaders, and children at a YMCA.
He said Bush's policies elevated his state's recidivism rate by 25 percent, to a level ''far above the national average.''
''Governor Bush seems content to keep pushing them out of a revolving door,'' Gore said. ''The people of Texas deserve better, and the people of America deserve better.''
The Bush campaign vehemently disputed Gore's statistics. Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for the campaign, said there are no recent numbers on the recidivism rate of inmates released after 1994, when Bush took office. The alleged cuts in funding are also ''wildly distorted and mischaracterized,'' Bartlett said.
When drug treatment in prisons was greatly expanded by former Texas Governor Ann Richards, a Democrat, the initial proposal was for 12,000 drug treatment beds. But the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, a government panel, determined that the state had adequately trained staff to handle only 5,000 to 5,500 beds, Bartlett said.
Gore also reiterated earlier crime proposals, including putting 50,000 more police on the street, that total $1.3 billion. The money is in the White House budget proposal.
