Evening star., 1947-02-09

=
CHIEF JUSTICE
BOLITHA J. LAWS.
Lows
Continued From First Page.)
Night after night, he kicked Off the
covers and his wife complained, the
prosecution said. Finally, his wife
went to a lawyer to start divorce
proceedings.
Looked Like Clear Case.
The man, the prosecution con-
tinued, wrote a letter to his moth
er announcing that he was going to
kill his wife. He proceeded to shoot
her. The letter, the prosecution
argued showed premeditation.
"On the face of things" said JUS
tice Laws, sit looked like clear
case of murder. But noticed that
the defendant seemed to be un-
usually nervous and continually
rubbed his forehead. Also, the
letter to his mother sounded un-
usual.
$50 when he took the stand, I
began to question him. Malingerers
put on a lot of foolishness but he
tried to answer my questions calmly.
In answer to my questions, he told
me he had served in the East Indies,
that he had been hospitalized for
months with a fever and had had
occurrences sf the fever since his
return. Evidently, that had some
thing to do with his kicking the
covers off,"
Justice Laws called the United
States Attorney, had the trial held
up for a few days, personally wrote
to the Veterans Administration to
get the mans war record and told
the prosecutor he wanted a Govern
ment psychiatrist to examine the
man.
= Veteran Sent to Hospital.
THE psychiatrist took the stand
and reported the veteran entirely
insane. The jury found him not
guilty by reason of insanity and he
was sent to a hospital"
Suppose added Justice Laws,
that we had not uncovered his war
experiences"
Justice Laws Is interested, how
ever, in getting more than deter
mination of whether a veteran is
legally sane or insane.
That's a very broad test" he ex-
planned. "A veteran might have a
distraught mind and broken-down
nervous system and still know the
difference between right and wrong"
But the Gallinger Hospital psy-.
chiatric staff, which acts for the
Government, is too busy to keep up
with its reports, much less 60 into
the fine points of veterans mental
condition, the Justice went on.
Use of VA Facilities Urged.
He suggested that the Veterans
Administration with its national
network of mental hygiene clinics
and mental hospitals might be
better equipped to take over the job
of examining veterans charged with
crime than overworked pSych1a-
trists in city hospitals.
Determining the veterans mental
condition and the aftermath of his
war experiences, however, is exactly
half of the problem worrying the
District Court justice.
"Once they are convicted" he
said, 1--WE have no place to put them.
They shouldn't be at large, but they
shouldn't be sent to associate with
hardened criminals.
Take man who has been taught
to charge into obstacles with fast
moving tank. He comes home, gets
into an automobile and starts speed
| ing. The next thing you know, he's
in court on a manslaughter charge.
Are we going to put him behind
bars when what he may need Is
treatment, even disqualification? 1t
doesn't make sense to me-"
If Congress had passed the Youth
Authority Act" providing for the
supervision of youthful offenders IN
training schools, farms, forestry
camps and other treatment centers,
the Judges would have place to
send these young veterans, Justice
Laws said.
Example of Problem.
As an example of his problem, he
mentioned the case of young vet
eran who had been cited for bravery
under fire and had spent year in
a prison camp.
The youth pleaded guilty to two
cases of armed housebreaking and
was put on probation for two to six
years. One week after he went on
probation, he was brought into court
again on q third housebreaking
charge.
He was sent to Gallinger where
he was pronounced legally sane.
Now 1 have to sentence him." the
iurist said. "1f I revoke his proba-
ton, I will have to give him two to
six years with another term on top
of that for the third offense. Where
am I going to send him? If we had
the Youth Authority Act, he could
20 to forestry camp. AS it is,
there's no place to send him but
prison.
Lets assume that the boy, al
though legally sane, is upset emo
tionally as result of the war. He
had no criminal record before the
war. Now what's going to happen to
him?"