Evening star., 1926-10-31
FAILURE TO CURB CRIME
LAID TO OLD-TIME LAWS
New York Prosecutor Declares Modern
Criminal Finds Old and Costly Legal
Ways Easy to Beat.

prosecution could not prove that the
accused pleaded guilty in the magis-
trate'S court? Well, that is the law
as it now stands. In such a case, the
district attorney must prove, beyond
a reasonable doubt. and without re-
gard to the confession of the de-
fendant, that the defendant committed
the crime of which he is accused and
which he confessed.
What / am contending for is
system of procedure that will unity
the courts and permit the judge who
sits as committing magistrate to
accept the plea Of guilty of the de-
fendant, in the first instance. and
permit the district attorney to file an
information against the defendant
accusing him of the crime of which
the defendant has pleaded guilty.
you will see that this system of
procedure will dispose of the case in
one process, whereas, at present, it
requires three.
Tricked by Witnesses.
LET me give you another example
along the same lines. A witness
testifies before a committing mag.s-
trate that he saw A kill b. He testifies
to the same truth before the grand
jury which returns the Indictment.
Before the case is tried B is threaten
ed. He comes into court and says he
never saw A in his life.
I'm New York, the district attorney
is bound by the testimony of B at
the trial. The district attorney can
not impeach 3, although his testimony
is in direct contradiction Of that which
he gave in the magistrates court and
before the grand jury"
What about catching him for
perjury" I inquired.
True, we might catch him for
perjury, but we let X. murderer, go.
The witness will gladly risk a perjury
conviction rather than be shot down
by KS gang for sending x to the
galloWS by honest testimony
do you think we have unnecessary
delay in getting juries in American"
1 queried.
Getting jury" replied Mr..
Banton, should be a matter of only
an hour or SO at the most. But it is
no uncommon thing for lawyers in
New York to consume a great number
of days in empaneling a jury. And
yet there is no place in the world
where a fair jury could be gotten
more speedily.
"Of course, the motive behind this
legal sparring is to delay justice. A
criminal case that is not tried within
three months of the date Of indict-
ment loses over so ner cent of it's
value from the point of view of the
prosecution. Hence, every move
known to the law is made. And be-
cause we let every move be made. our
criminal procedure needs repair"
do you think that our court trials
degenerate into a mere battle of wits
Judge merely umpiring the game?'
THAT is only too true. How much
better is the British system, which
permits judge to direct trial, at
the same time charging him with the
duty Of seeing that the defendant Is
fairly tried. That makes for speedy
and certain iustice-the corner stones
of successful justice"
"How much actual cash do you
think could be saved if we cut out
unnecessary procedure?"
Could Save Millions.
'It is estimated" answered Mr..
Banton, that the cost of maintaining
one of our criminal courts is $500 a
day. It is safe to say that the total
cost Of administering criminal justice
in New York City runs over $12,0 ,00O,-
900 year. And feel that two-thirds
of this cost could be eliminated if we
cut out useless procedure. We need
to restate our penal law along the
broad lines adopted by the British,
and that discretion be placed in the
judge to apply the law to given
case. We must make our Judges
stronger. They will put down wran-
Cling counsel, and with new rules we
can speed up justice immensely"
"What is the reason for this an.
tiquatedness of our criminal pro-
cedure?" l asked.
Back a few centuries ago there
were 1913 offenses that were punish
able by capital punishment. "A person
was executed for stealing sheep. The
brutality of such penalties caused
humane judges to seek every possible
loophole to avoid executing people for
minor offenses. Judges invoked
technicalities in evidence and pro-
cedure to enable people to beat brutal
penalties. The use then of such
technicalities to defeat brutality has
resulted now in the use of such
technicalities to defeat justice. Our
criminal procedure needs a thorough
overhauling."
(Copyrght. 1920