Evening star., 1947-03-04
Army, Navy, VA
1oDrdft Veteran
Crime Screen
Records. to Answer
Questionnoire to Find
War Experience Link

War Experience Link
Legal chiefs Of the Army, Navy
and Veterans Administration will
work together to develop a system
OF screening veterans accused of
crime to determine which ones
rnight be victims of the war"
AS soon as the system can be
worked out. it will be tried ex-
perimentally in District Court here.
This was announced yesterday by
Chief Justice Bolitha j. Laws of Dis
tr1ct Court, following the second
session on the twin questions OF
tracing the relationship between
crimes and war experiences and
finding suitable places where
victims of the war; can be rehabil-
itated.
= To Develop QUESTIONABLE. j..
Justice Laws said the Judge Advo-
Gates General of the Army and Navy,
both of whom attended the session,
and the Veterans Administration
solicitor had agreed to develop a
QUESTIONABLE which could be an
swered with the personnel and facil-
tiles now available to the Army,
Navy and Veterans Administration.
The JUSTICE Department, he said,
had developed QUESTIONABLE but it
was considered too comprehensive.
Justice Laws gave this picture Of
how the system would work:
The Police Department is now
notifying the United States Attorney
here whenever an accused man or
woman is a veteran. Police are also
getting armed forces serial numbers.
AS soon as a questionnaire can be
worked out, the United States At
torney will send the QUESTIONABLE
first to the Veterans Administration
and, If that agency does not have
the veterans record, the question:
naire will go on to the Army or Navy.
Answers From Record.
The QUESTIONABLE will be answered
from the veterans record and will
be sent to a District Court judge.
Justice Laws said he believed the
judge should examine the question:
naire to determine if there is any
indication in the answers that a
mans crime had a relationship to
his war experiences.
II the judge found any such in
dlcation, Justice Laws went on, he
might summon prosecution and de-
tense lawyers to his chambers to
determine whether both lawyers
wanted to proceed further, when full
records should be sought and by
what means. At this point Veterans
Administration psychiatrists might
be asked to examine the man.
Thereafter, the main problem
would be sending the veteran to the
proper place for rehabilitation.
To determine what institutions are
available, when the Veterans Ad-
ministration can take accused vet
|eranS and what additional facilities
are needed, another committee was
set up at the session yesterday,
Justice Laws said.
Includes Bennett, Overholser.
On the committee are James v,
Bennett, director of the Federal
Bureau of Prisons; DR.. Winfred
Overholser, superintendent Of st.
Elizabeth's Hospital; E. E. Odom,
Veterans Administration, and T.
Lamar Caudle, assistant attorney
general in charge of the criminal
division.
While there was some difference
OF opinion at the session on which
veterans could be accepted by Vet
Grams Administration hospitals,
Justice Laws said he believed some
of the veterans sentenced for crimes
needed rehabilitation "out in the
open" rather than in agency hos
pitals.
The decision to limit the expert
ment to District Court came after
United States Attorney George
Morris Fay reported that 1900 per-
sons came through Municipal Court
each week and a large percentage
of them were veterans.
District Court here was selected
for the experiment, Justice Laws ex-
planned, because it handled cases
tried elsewhere in both Federal and
State courts and because the de-
partment heads are here and could
study the experiment.
Attending Session.
Attending yesterdays session
were:
Justice Laws, Justice Alexander
Holtzoff of District Court, Chief
Judge George P. Barse of Municipal
Court, Maj. Thomas H. Green, judga
advocate general of the Army; Rear
Admiral o. S. Colclough, judge ad.
vocate general of the Navy; Ken
meth S. Harrison, chief counsel Of
the Coast Guard; DR.. Overholser,
Mr.. Bennett, Mr.. Fay, Mr.. Odom,
Mr.. Caudle, George S. Robinson of
the Maritime Commission, E. j.
Fitzgerald, chief attorney of the
regional Veterans Administration:
Corporation Counsel Vernon E.
West, James E: Palmer of the JUS
tice Department and David A. Tur-
ner of the Veterans Administration.
All n n