Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-12-15
Senate Unit Asks
Tighter Laws on
Moral Misfits
Demands Increased
Efforts to Rid Federal
Rolls of Risks

NSltS VI NtSNS
A Senate Expenditures sub
committee today proposed strip-
gent new penalties against sex
perverts in the District and de-
manded increased efforts to rid
Government rolls of such persons.
The proposals came in the first
report of a committee, headed by
Senator Hoey. Democrat, of North
Carolina, after an eight-month
series of secret hearings to inves-
tigate sex perversion in Govern
ment agencies.
In a section devoted to sex
perversion cases in the District.
the committee proposed:
l. A broad new law providing
maximum penalties of a $500
fine or six months imprison-
ment, or both, for indecent
exposure or committing ANY
other lewd, obscene or indecent
act in the District of Columbia"
Would Raise Penalty.
2. That the maximum penalty
for disorderly conduct be raised
from $25 fine to fine of 500 or
80 days imprisonment. or both.
3. That it be unlawful to solicit
for immoral purposes anywhere in
the District. Under present law
in order to gain conviction, the
solicitation must take place in
specific locations, and at a loca-
ton different from that at which
the immoral purpose" is to take
place.
4. That sex offenses in the Dis
trict be prosecuted by the United
States Attorney, rather than the
Corporation Counsel, as at pres
ent. Since cases under the sex
psychopath law are prosecuted by
the United States Attorneys Of
flee, the committee said, placing
responsibility for all major, sex
offenses under a single jurisdic-
ton should result in a more uni
form administration of such
cases."
The report was critical of what
was described as the tendency of
many Government agencies to as
sumo "a headin-the sand" atti-
tude toward the problem and their
failure to take firm and positive
steps to get known perverts out
of the Government and keep them
out" In many cases, it was
pointed out, known offenders were
allowed to resign from an agency
and the real reason for the resig-
nation was not entered on the
personnel file nor was the Civil
Service Commission notified.
Example Cited.
"A glaring example of this lat
ter situation" the report said,
involved the 81 homosexuals who |
left the State Department. between
January, 1947, and January, 1850.
In most of these cases the known
homosexuals were allowed to re-
sign for personal reasons and no
information was placed in the
regular personnel files Of the
State Department.; nor was the
Civil Service Commission informed
of the true reason for the resigna-
ton. The actual facts involved in
the removal of these individuals
were entered in certain confiden-
tial files of the State Department"
AS a result of the way these
cases were "mishandled," the re-
port added, % of the 81 State
Department employees found Jobs
in other Government agencies.
"The civil service" the subcom-
mittee reported, happened to I'M
cover six of these % cases as the
result of independent investiga-
tons, but no notification was given
to the commission by the State
Department concerning the real
reason for the dismissal of any of
these persons until March of this
year.
cat the present time % of
these homoseXuals have been re-
moved from the agencies to which
they transferred after leaving the
State Department. In one case
the individual involved was re-
tanned in the new agency after a
reconsideration of the facts"
Most of the large Government
agencies, the report pointed out,
have investigative stats. But it
added that a number of the Al
agencies checked were unaware
of the necessity" of making inves-
legations of morals offenses.
Lack of Liaison Criticized.
The Senators also raped the
lack of liaison between Govern
ment agencies and the Police De-
partment in such matters. OF
those arrested for morals offenses
in the three years prior to 1850,
the report said, Asst indicated they
were Government employees at the
time of the arrests.
BY April and May of this year,
the report said, when the Civil
Service Commission was furnished
with police records, only 1913 of
those previously arrested on morals
charges were still employed by the
Government. The discrepancy
might be explained, it was added,
by the fact that some of those
arrested had left the Government
service or have said they were
Government employees when they
were not. Only the military serv-
ices, it was pointed out, had main
tanned regular liaison with the
police department to obtain infor-
nation on the arrest of their per-
sonnet on morals charges.
The committee said it proposed
the heavier penalties because of
the difficulty in gaining convic-
tons through the specific sex