Evening star., 1926-09-16
WEAK IDENTIFICATION METHODS
AN AID TO CONFIRMED CRIMINAL
Many Get Light Sentences as First Offend
ers Because of Inadequate Records-Case
Histories Scattered Among Is Agencies

| of Queens discharged him for attempt
! ed eXtortion. In 1924 he was arrested
| in Philadelphia for blackmail Two
months later he was convicted of con
| spiracy in Boston and released on a
writ of appeal"
Big Bond Halts Release.
on June 2 last year he was arrested
| in New York again for forgery. The
/ charge was dismissed, but when the
grand jury found an indictment he
was rearrested. He was released on
| $4,000 bail While out on bail he
continued his favorite practice Of cash
ing forged checks and was again ap-
pretended. Judge Talley set bail this
time at $4,000 and Mccarthy was
unable to raise the sum.
His lawyer eventually effected re-
duction of bail to $4,000 by appealing
to another judge. Mccarthy set to
work again. Within As hours he was
presenting checks at a prominent
Broadway bank, where he was once
again arrested. This time he was
clapped into Jail without bail, and
when he finally came up for trial he
received eight years.
If the judges in these cases had had
at their disposal proper records of Nc
Carthy's past offenSes against society
he would almost certainly have been
sent away for a long term before this.
AS it was, his fingerprints were I'M
available, and when they finally We're
taken in New York they were of little
use, since there existed no central
office to which they could be sent for
comparison with the records of known
offenders.
A drug peddler was caught in the
meshes of the law in January last.
He received a short sentence as first
offender. Following his sentence, his
back trail was scrutlnized.
Record Found Too Late.
Put together, the record of his Of
fenses, all having to do with the SNUG
Cling and sale Of drugs, showed that
he had been convicted 80 times in va
rious parts of the country. If this
information had been available to the
district attorney of New York Coun-
ty when he was last convicted, this
habitual criminal could have been sent
away for a long time and society pro-
tected from his aggressions.
There is another case which nap
pened only a few weeks ago:
Joseph Bravata was arraigned be-
fore County Judge Taylor in Brooklyn
for robbery. The record submitted by
the district attorney showed that Bra
vata had never been in trouble before.
The court was not satisfied with the
evidence and ordered a further 1nVeS-
tigation. This disclosed that BraVata
had been previously convicted. There
upon Judge Taylor changed the orlgl-
nal sentence from ~ TO 4O years. IN
doing so, he said:
tod 70 hn l
to send you where only the governor
can disturb you, and l hope he never
does"
The establishing Of central bureau
of criminal Identification at Albany is
admitted by police and prosecuting Of
ficials to be a step in the right direc-
ton.
Criminal Trail Buried.
A study of III cases taken from Of
ffcial records by the writer provides
substantial proof Of the necessity for
such a safeguard OF these cases, 1877
showed that the police authorities and
prosecuting officials of New York State
did not know of the previous activities
of professional criminals caught by
the law and sentenced as first offend
ers.
The use of aliases, substitution of
wrong addresses, Withholding of infor-
nation by lawyers representing the
criminals and general lack of police
efficiency We're clearly revealed in each
of these situations. In a great many
of them, the police and prosecuting Of
ficials, presumably for lack of finan-
cial means and other facilities, made
no attempt to go back over the trail
Of the criminals.
Competent authorities believe that
it would be comparatively easy to fol
low up the record of a professional
criminal between the time of his ar
rest and the ultimate disposition of his