Evening star., 1947-04-02
Justice Laws Pledge!
Speedy Action 10 Aid
Accused Veterans

new procedure for obtaining more
information about accused veterans
before trial was promised by Chief
Justice Bolitha J. Laws Of District
Court today, in the wake of an
agreement by all the affected Gov
ernment agencies that they will CO.
operate In the program.
At the same time, Justice Laws
announced Attorney General Clark
will be asked to meet with a COM
mittee to work on a bill to provide
for the commitment In special in
stitutions of accused persons who
are emotionally unstable but not
legally insane. The bill would be
Nationwide in scope and would
not be limited to veterans.
After conference yesterday with
representatives of District legal cir
cles, the armed forces, Veterans
Administration and Justice Depart
ment, Justice Laws announced the
major objectives had been accom-
plished in the program he spear
headed to learn which veterans
are victims of the war"
Agree on QUESTIONABLE.
Principal accomplishment was an
agreement by all parties on a ques-
tionnaire which will be sent by the
court to the Veterans Administra-
ton and the armed forces in all
cases involving veterans. The ques-
tionnaire will ask this information
Period of the veterans service
whether he was at any time a
prisoner of the enemy, whether he
was hospitalized or treated during
service for combat injuries, nom
combat injuries, disease or abnor-
NAL mental condition; whether he
was hospitalized after his discharge
and If so, where and when.
The conference, said Justice Laws
agreed this screening information
should be obtained before trial and
should be requested by the court.
Under the procedure that will be
set up. the court will be informed
that the accused person is veteran
through a QUESTIONABLE to be used
by all arresting agencies.
Informal ton Sought.
This QUESTIONABLE will ask the
accused persons name, home adj
dress, rank or rating in the service,
branch of service. service serial
number, whether the veteran has
filed a claim with the Veterans
Administration and what his claim
number is, his date Of entry into the
service and date Of separation and
whether he was discharged for
medical reasons.
The suggestion that the question
naire ask the type of discharge was
vetoed because Of the danger II
might reveal a dishonorable dis
charge and thus be incriminating
to the veteran on trial.
Justice Laws emphasized that
both the police and screening
questionnaires contained no requests
for information that might indicate
wrong doing.
The jurist said one OF the mos,
encouraging things to come out o1
| the conference was the fact that the
representatives of the Veterans
Administration. the armed forces
and the Maritime Commission al
definitely and unequivocally com.
mitted themselves" to supply thu
answers to the questions promptly
I Ia Liz
| Once the answers are received
Justice Laws said, they will be made
available to the prosecutor and tt
the counsel for the defense. If thu
defense counsel believes the answer!
indicate the defendants crime can b
traced to his war experiences. III
can get permission to look at thu
veterans full record by obtaining
| the veterans consent or by asking
the court to subpoena the record
| In the latter case, Justice Laws ex'
planned, the court, would have u
pass on whether the material Il
confidential.
Justice Laws said the question
nafre system would go into ef1ec
very sf1ortly"-as soon as the otne
! Judges have been consulted and tn
! missionaries can be printed.
| As another outgrowth OF the con
! ference, Justice Laws said all tn
representatives agreed that institu
tional facilities now are not avail
able for the best handling OF man
| of these cases and the courts ar
further handicapped by their inabil
itv to commit veterans who ar
enaotionally upset but not legally IN
sane.
Defect In the Law.
This twin problem win be taken =
the Attorney General by Superin
tendent Winfred Overholser OF q
| Elizabetts Hospital: e. Z. Odon
solicitor Of the Veterans Admins
I tration. and James v. Bennett. direc
tor of the Federal Bureau of PRISON.
Dr.. Overholser explained the Fed
i eral Law now recognizes no middl
i ground between the wholly sane an
| the wholly insane. This defect !
| the law, he said, means that persoE