Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-11

CONGRATULATIONS vi Tic
splendid editorial Lock Your
Doors"
Surely Congress must take
the lead to remedy the pres
ent situation and to reverse
the current trend where the
interest Of the criminal is
preferred to that Of the So
ciety in which we live or the
victim he has violated.
Merely to dramatic a too
seldom-theught-of phase OF
these shockingly frequent
rape cases. ! pose the follow
ing questions:
! wonder how any one Of
those who defend or sit in
Judgment in such matters
and ind newly discovered
reasons 70 free even the most
vicious offender would feel II
his wife or daughter we're SO
raped. Would he then be
equally eager to find ever
further reasons to be lenient?
Would he. in requesting or
ordering q new trial. want to
subject his loved one to hay-
ing to take the witness stand
again and again and have to
relive over and over the agony
and horror she experienced?
Should not he be at all SEN
sitive to her own feelings
and emotions?
Would he not think and
worry tool that perhaps the
poor victim had been made
pregnant during the hideous
episode? This has happened.
Or that perhaps she might
become mentally unbalanced
because Of her terrifying ex-
perience7 This too has hap
pened.
These are not mere sup
poSititious questions. The
point ! am making Is that
the procedures must be so
clearly defined. so crystal
clear and unalterable, so
fully understood by all con-
cerned. that once the poor
prey Of the rapist has APP
peared and testified in court
as to the facts Of the case.
awful and intimate as they
are. she will know that at
least she will not have to go
back again.
L. Clark Schiller.
aNa
Your editorial. Lock the
Doors" was a step in the
right direction. But you
should not only step once
and timidly. but often and
vigorously.
We fly a flag Of equality
under justice. but when men
In one place are given 20
years for criminal brutality
tas in Alabama). and in an
other I'd. c., cold-blooded
murderers are freed. there is
no equality under justice.
And to top II all. the hypo-
critics here cry that other
places do not dispense justice.
r. s.
Lock Your Doors" was a
choice bit Of editorial adj
vice. However. I cannot help
suspecting that certain por-
tions of the editorial we're
produced somewhere in left
field. A prime example is your
statement that recent court
decisions seem to favor the
criminal at the ultimate ex-
pense Of society. II has al
ways been. and continues TO
be. my belief that the laws
and courts Of our country
we're created to serve the
citizens-one and all.
The great majority Of fell
ons prosecuted In this country
are citizens before becoming
criminals. Their status
changes. not at the moment
Of arrest. but only after a
guilty verdict has been re-
turned by a judge or Jury and
all avenues Of appeal have
been exhausted. In view Of
the clamor caused by the
Mallory decision. ! must con-
cede that a very infamous
person named Mallory must
have been TUNED into the
streets TO prey on the public.
Despite this fact. I continue
10 believe that the Supreme
Court ruling was not based SO
much on the man or his hid
eous crime. but on the estab-
lished rights OF individual
citizens rather than individual
criminals.
There Is absolutely no need
Tor the returning legislators
to burden themselves with the
task Of defining unnecessary
delay" Any policeman. prose-
cutor or Judge has meyely u
loosen the pages OF hi Web
ster for the intended ufS ming
We spend billions Of Collars
IN armament for defense de.