More violent felons in Cayuga County are being put behind bars.

Cayuga County District Attorney Jim Vargason says it's because he's had the money to fully prosecute offenders.

In 2003, 71.6 percent of those convicted of a violent felony in Cayuga County were incarcerated, a jump of 12 percentage points from 2002. Of those convictions, 54.3 percent were convicted as felonies, rather being reduced to misdemeanors or lesser offenses.

Vargason attributes the higher incarceration rate to the Enhanced Felony Prosecution (EFP) program, which he began in 2001 to toughen the way the county prosecutes violent felony offenders.

"Now we're starting to see some of the fruits of our labor," he said.

The EFP has several components, including keeping an on-call assistant district attorney at all times to assist police, screening potential violent felony cases as soon as possible, and minimizing plea bargains. Of the 180 indictments the district attorney's office handles a year, about a quarter of them fall under the EFP, Vargason said.

Another factor influencing the incarceration statistics is the willingness of victims to prosecute.

In 1997, Vargason created the Cayuga County Victim/Witness Services to "empower crime victims," he said. That program, combined with the EFP, shows victims that the county is going to work hard for a conviction, he said.

Vargason said the program was needed to protect the rest of society from violent felons. The program was also made possible by funds from the State Aid To Prosecution program, which is designed to "specially identify violent felony offenses and aggressively prosecute them," he said.

The State Aid To Prosecution program used to only give money to the 30 largest counties in New York state. But the New York State District Attorneys Association - of which Vargason is a past president - lobbied in Albany to have the rest of the state's 32 counties included in the program. Now the program provides at least $50,000 to all counties, including Cayuga County.

Vargason decided the EFP would be the best use of this money. But Cayuga County has received 15 percent less this year, making it harder to maintain the program.

"I don't know if we could have done it to the level we did without the aid to prosecution monies," Vargason said.

These incarceration rate levels may be difficult to maintain, said Eli Silverman, criminal justice professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

"You get these spikes when there is an infusion of money, and then it usually falls when there are less resources put in," he said.

But the increased incarceration rate doesn't mean that there are more violent crimes being committed in the county. "I don't think there are many more crimes, per se, happening in the county, but more are being reported," he said.

The trend in Cayuga County is consistent with incarceration rates across the country, said Bill Pooler, sociology professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

"We are putting more people in prison, even though fewer people are committing crimes," he said.

This emphasis on incarceration could be detrimental in the long run as prisons become overcrowded and more costly to maintain, Pooler speculated. The future could bring shorter sentences as prisons feel the pressures.

But at least for now in Cayuga County, these increases could make more witnesses willing to prosecute if the district attorney is emphasizing incarceration, said Cayuga Community College professor John Lamphere, a former lieutenant in the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department.

"When there's an effort to make the arrests and prosecute, you're going to see it reflected in the numbers," Lamphere said.

But Cayuga County Sheriff Rob Outhouse said the EFP is probably not changing the way his department handles cases. The workload is still huge, but not necessarily because of the EFP, he said.

Auburn Deputy Police Chief Thomas Murphy agreed with Outhouse. While the EFP doesn't directly affect his officers' work, it does serve as an example of how the county as a whole responds to violent felonies.

"Hopefully the ultimate goal is to decrease the overall crime rate," he said. "We're showing that there are still prosecution and penalties."

Staff writer Liz Hacken can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or

elizabeth.hacken@lee.net