51.   Blanca Barna, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said those convicted of less serious crimes or those with old convictions may be eligible for exemptions.

52.   A few more serious crimes also have been pardoned.

53.   A sad reality of the criminal justice system is that in all too many cases, defendants are convicted of serious crimes on the flimsiest of evidence.

54.   A tribunal official who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigators are initially concentrating on who had command responsibility for the most serious crimes.

55.   Abene and many of his admirers are at pains to distinguish his actions from what they consider the more serious crimes of other MOD members.

56.   All other serious crimes have declined sharply as well, with the exception of forcible rape, which is down only slightly from last year.

57.   All the intrusions on the privacy of discussion in the White House were justified by Starr as essential to obtain vital evidence of serious crimes.

58.   All of which is surprising in a town where serious crime is an anomaly.

59.   All serious crime in the five boroughs is down by more than a fourth.

60.   But a rare exception was made in this case, senior police officials said, because Thomas was the primary witness to a serious crime.