Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-08-09
Now Up to the Courts

NOW up 70 IHe SOuIIS
Thanks to combination of good
luck and hard police work, one self
confessed rapist, knifer and thief has
been taken out of circulation in this
city.
Harry Sylvester Jones, according to
the police, has confessed committing
three recent rapes and the atrocious
knitting and robbing of a woman who
was saying prayers in a church short
distance from the Capitol. Jones, who
is "a, has been in trouble or in Jail al
most continuously since he was Is. And
If his case is a fair example Of rehabili-
tation as opposed to punishment, there
is nothing good to be said for the former.
We assume, however, although 1t Is by
no means certain, that the era of short
sentences and early releases is over for
this man. He ought to be put away for
keeps.
Some doubt arises on two scores.
One concerns the Mallory case, in which
guilty rapiSt was turned loose in Wash
ington because the Supreme Court said
there had beer an unnecessary delay"
(7R hours between his arrest and his
arraignment before judge. Mallory,
as it happens, was caught in another
rape in Philadelphia, where the Mallory
rule does not apply, and is serving a
long prison term for that offenSe. We
doubt, however, that the confessions
which the police say Jones has made
will be invalidated under the Mallory
f1Iln oil
hours prior to arraignment and pre-
sumably confessed during that period
Of detention. But he was not caught
until 2:15 am, and he was arraigned by
6 am. We doubt that any court is going
to say that this was an unnecessary
delay between arrest and arraignment,
even though we would not mortgage
our home to bet on it. More likely, If
Jones escapes punishment, this will come
about under the So-called Durham rule,
which set up novel and we think I'M
satisfactory test of insanity in criminal
cases in the District. The giSt of this
rule Is that if the crime is the product"
of mental disease or defect, the &C
cused must be sent to st. Elizabeths
Hospital, not to Jail. A major difficulty
has been that no one knows what prod
uct" means, but this could and may be
remedied by Congress. Incidentally, it
is worth noting as a matter of interest
that Monte Durham, a petty thief,
whose trial gave rise to the Durham rule,
was released from st. ElizabethS on the
same day that the story of Jones' arrest
appeared. Durham presumably has
been cured of his mental ailment, but
as to this it might be just as well to
wait and see what the future brings.
We also note, with a certain sense
Of encouragement, that Representative
Becker of New York, whose woman aide
was stabbed nine times by Jones, says
the police need more time to question
suspects, and that he will introduce
legislation giving them perhaps as much
as six hours for this purpose. Not wish
to be misunderstood, we hasten to well
come Congressman Becker to the ranks
of those who want Congress to modify
the Mallory rule. But it is diScouraging
that the need for some such change
should be treated as news" in 1862.
For this is an old battle, in which we
have taken an active part. In 1858 both
the House and Senate passed legisla-
ton providing for reasonable" delay
in arraignment, only to see it killed by
filibuSter threat against conference
committee report in the closing hours Of
Congress.
We hope that Representative
BeckerS bill will meet a better fate
But we are not optimistic. For in all
such efforts there comes a time when
the public sense of outrage subsidies;
when the victims who have been stab
bed, raped, murdered or robbed are
largely forgotten. At that point the
demand for punishment of the crimi-
nails yields to concern for the rights" of
the criminals, and the rights of the
public, if any, tend to be forgotten. His
tory may not repeat itself in this in
stance, but if Mr.. Becker'S bill should
become law we would like to be the
first to nominate him for top prize as
miracle worker of the year.
AVLI AL@,& CoLIan9