Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-10-13
pUBLIcITY's AID TO JUSTICE.

United States do the officials more fire.
quently withhold information that
justice may not be defeated" than in
Honolulu. Publicity will defeat JUS
tiCe" has come to be one of the stereo
typed phrases Of some of the local de-
partments when dealing with measures
instituted to apprehend criminals. Off
Gals appear to forget that criminals
are always on their guard, and while
secrecy may add to the glory of detec-
tives II the criminal is brought to book
and not detract from It in the pub
lie mind II he escapes, publicity to a
great extent adds to the numerical
force which officers of the law have at
their command for bringing wrong
doors to account.
A writer for the Washington Times
presents a plea in favor of publicity in
dealing with crime which is a very
sensible and practical view. He says
Every reader has read the expression
that in order that the ends of justice
may not be interfered with. the facts
in given case are withheld from
publication. The day was when police
! officers everywhere tried to keep the
crimes committed in their jurisdiction
out of the press on the ground that
publicity would ruin the chances OF
catching the criminal. They held that
the criminal read the papers, and that
they kept in touch with the efforts that
were being laid for his capture; that
when he saw the trap he would take
care not to step into II. But that view
of it is rapidly changing.
THE triumph Of the press in bring
ing men to justice, even. in many cases,
after the efforts OF the officers of the
law had proved futile, after these Of
ficers had found themselves at their
wits end. have served to show that the
press, as a helpmeet to the officers OF
the law in bringing criminals to justice,
Is force that is not to be treated
slightly. II has brought about an era
in which II is recognized as a great
aid in the detection of crime, and save
in exceptional cases, the officers of the
law find 1t wise to take the newspapers
into their confidence and make them
an ally in the process of bringing Grim
inals to justice.
Publicity makes every reader of the
press a sort of detective. A great crime
is committed. The papers herald the
fact to every nook and Granny of the
country. They publish the circum-
stances in such a way that everyone at
once becomes interested in the affair,
II the perpetrator Of the crime Is
known, descriptions OF him and pic.
lures are strewn broadcast, through
the press, and unconsciously the people
begin to play the role OF private detec.
i've, making II impossible for the Of,
= fender to hide.
Il recall case in point. A woman
from my town went to Richmond tC
seek treatment in hospital. She dis.
appeared on her arrival there, and
though her husband employed the best
detective skill in the country, nothing
J would avail to discover her where,
abouts. The husband then hit upon the
! expedient OF publishing her photograph
r in the newspapers. One morning a copy
E of Philadelphia newspaper found it,
way into a small home in a Pennsyl
yania mining town, bearing the like
I ness of the missing woman. In tina
S home was a servant girl who had founC
g employment and shelter under tina
j roof few days before. The Likeness
c between her and the picture was indis
= rutable. 1t was the means of restoring
her to her husband, whom she had, il
a fit of mental alteration, deserted sew
: eral months before.
Il Again, II criminal be not known
a the publication Of the evidence so ia
I as 1t is in the hands OF the Official
y tends to bring in the missing link
S from the public, II there be such. Il
}. this way many criminal is brought t
justice who would have never felt tn
y tolls Of the law tighten around him ha
! 1t not been for the press, and the pub
i licity 1t gives. In this way the pres
r serves the people, as well as in thou
! sand and one other ways, which max
n 1t one OF the strongest forces of mod
O ern civilization"