Imperial Valley press., 1937-07-12
WHAT PART IS THE
PRESS TO pIAYp

ne arrest of an FL Centre grammar
schooi Janltor on charge that he GRIM
naliy abused an eight-year-old girl after
entclng her into the seclusion of q school
building here gives point to a question
that has plagued editors for MANY wears
how are newspapers TO handle news
OF abnormal sex crimes?
The Jaintor said his crime was mo-
tlVated by newspaper stories telling of
the horrible lnglewood sex slayinps.
throughout the nation, it is safe to say.
a wave OF comparatively minor sex crimes
followed widespread publication of de-
tails of the 1ngewood crime. an occnr-
renee which could cause nothing but re-
VulsIon IN normal person.
The abnormality of degenerate nersons
feeds upon recital of such details Latent
moral perversion springs into life as the
horror of the crime is unfolded on the
printed page Vicarious pleasure is de-
rived by the degenerate out of stories
winch are repulsive to a normal person.
Finally the tide of abnormal emotions
reaches such flow that it is translated
into a fresh crime.
knowing that this is true, what are the
newspaper editors and reporters to dop
They cannot be certain that. bv sun-
pressing the news of sex crimes. they
would help to prevent additional sex
crimes. Hardboiled students of human
behaviour, they know that moral per-
version must have been present i'm the
fibres Of degenerates before ever thev
read OF sex crime committed bv an
other. The editors know that psychia-
trists divide degenerates into two main
classes, those who were born degenerates.
and those who acquired abnormality.
know hat hx e., +l,o
number of degenerates are born with
something twisted in their moral make
up. Those who acquire degeneracy usu-
ally do so from another person, not from
reading.
These editors and reporters, too. are
dedicated to the belief that their news
paper should be nothing more nor less
than a mirror held up to life dav after
day. How are thec to reconcile this basic
part of their ethical belief to the idea of
suppressing news, even though it NAV
be horrible and repulsive. Life is not
made up entirely of sweet things and
noble deeds.
Yet we cannot get away from the fact
that every outstandingly horrible crime
of perversion is followed by a myriad of
comparatively minor crimes. We can
only express our belief that, if such
"NOi1~S WIZ SNPPlOooCQ, ueSSU6Tdl6S
would find some other stimulus for their
abnormal emotions which, sooner or
later, would have the same result. In
stead of flood released from behind
the dam of publicity in one great wave.
sex crimes would flow evenly through the
months like an unchecked river. There
would be just as many, but they would
not be grouped so closely together
There are other and powerful argu-
ments on the side of publicity for such
news. Leonard Hickman, ravisher and
murderer of little Marian Parker would
not have been caught if it had not been
for the publicity given his crime of sev-
eral years ago. There is more than a
chance that the Inglewood slayer would
not have been captured if his emotions
had not been maintained at a high ebb
by publicity given his crime. There is
the argument, also, that such publicity
warns parents of the need for schooling
their children to caution in the presence
Of strangers and suspicious characters.
Then there is the other side of the pic
ture, exemplified by Germany's purge
Of perverts" a year or SO ago. Scores of
degenerates were found in official life
in country where news of this kind is
barred from the press
The question of sex crime publication
is one we cannot solve-one which may
never be solved