Evening star., 1952-11-23
Hiss Wants Out
But Whether Authorities Spring Him
Depends on Five Men in Washington
BY Roy Koltwosser


term at Lewisburg-20 months
of a five-year perjury sentence.
He was somewhere near the
middle of the interview list. DR..
Killinger got to Hiss on Friday,
Novemberl4
After completing his inter-
views. DR.. Killinger returned to
Washington to report to the
other board members. He sub
mitted to them all of the in
formation he had gathered about
Hiss, as well as a transcript or
the interview. Finally. he made
his own recommendation-either
to grant or deny the plea for
parole. The other four board
members are now studying the
case and will judge independ-
emily whether Hiss should be
paroled. The majority decides.
The parole board members
will reach their conclusions
after asking themselves num-
ber of set questions they use IN
all parole cases. The balance
between the pluses and minuses
Hiss gets on those questions will
decide whether he will be pa
rolled. One heavy negative could
outweigh a handful Of pluses.
of course.
Pros and Cons
In more ways than one. the
Hiss parole case Is not routine.
There is probably no criminal
less like a criminal than Alger
Hiss. On the surface he would
appear a cinch for parole II the
ordinary rules were applied to
him. But Hiss has some unusual
things against him.
Here are few Hiss "pluses"
that would probably assure Q
parole for, say, a chap sentenced
to 10 years for robbing a bank:
What are the chances the
prisoner would ever again go
back to crime? Very little.
Can the prisoner find a job
when he gets out? Hiss could
probably make out even without
job. He is writing a book
which Should holm
What about his family? His
wife stuck by him. The two
could still hope to salvage some
happiness together.
Before Hiss, these favorable
factors would have been suff1-
cient to release almost any one.
But here are the heavy mega
tives that may turn the balance
against him:
Will there still be an adverse
feeling in Hiss home commu-
nifty if he returns now? Un-
doubtedly there will be. But
Hiss must return to his legal
home two years from now any,
way, when he gets out on good
time. The board must decide
whether the resentment will
have abated enough to warrant
keeping Hiss in prison that
much longer.
Has this man paid his debt"
to society? There is much to
be said for the theory that his
punishment did not flt the
crime, but the parole board
tends to shy away from view
ing Imprisonment as punish
ment and puts more stress on
whether prisoners realize the
gravity of their offenses.
What is the prisoners atti-
tude toward the offense? Hiss
still maintains his innocence.
The parole board, on the other
hand, automatically assumes
that Hiss is a criminal. They
could wonder why this man is
not yet mature enough to
acknowledge it.
About half of the men
who apply for parole get 1t. Pa
role boards generally try to
make objective decisions based
on human considerations: What
is best for the prisoner from a
rehabilitation standpoint, within
the limits of preventing. danger
Gus criminals from menacing So
ciety? There is no reason to ex-
pect the United States Board OF
Parole to make an exception in
Hiss case.
The decision will be made
known the first week in Decen-
ber.