Sending 'Em to the Chair

Instead of jail terms or fines. Circuit Court Judge Sam Harrod III, 37. often used to sentence young offenders to haircuts, loss of their drivers' licenses or a day of picking up cans and bottles along the highways. Says the judge, an eleven-year veteran of the bench in rural Woodford County. Ill., "The courts have become the parents of last resort. I was trying to get young people to change their ways before they got sent to prison." But the American Civil Liberties Union complained to the Illinois Courts Commission that his sentences were violating the defendants' civil rights. Agreeing, the commission suspended Harrod for 30 days.

The judge appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which, after pondering his case for a year, has ruled unanimously that he did no wrong. But Harrod's victory may be hollow. Fearful of stirring up more trouble, the judge has not decided whether to resume sentencing shaggy-haired miscreants to terms in the barber's chair, even though he remains convinced that in many cases, prison cells or fines are too harsh a punishment. Says he: "I'm going to wait and see. I've been burned by this."

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