Evening star., 1963-05-09
Judqe BozeIon's Code
1t is small wonder our crime

1t is small wonder our crime
rate, particularly crimes of
violence. is disgracefully high
in this Nations Capital, what
with Judge David l.. Bazelon's
attitude on police procedures
relating to investigation and
arrests.
Judge Bazelon's most pre-
posterous conclusion is that
citizens have a right" to
health and development and
an adequate "upbringing by
society" The judge says "the
illnesses and other failures Of
our citizens who have been
denied such an upbringing
must be seen as a failure Of
society as WE'LL" Since when
did a corporate populace. or
society, owe a collective duty
to discharge the duty Of pa
rental guidance? From what
we'll Of obligation does our
law-abiding citizenry draw a
necessity to tolerate the bru-
tality and immortality of the
few? BY what misguided
sense of society's guilt do we
excuse the senSelessness of a
minority?
We owe much of our pres
ent predicament to the soft
treatment" given to serious
crime perpetrators by men
elevated to high positions Of
judicial prominence. We sore
ly need to not only strength
en- police procedures but also
to throw the book" of
lengthy hard labor sentences
at criminals. We are past the
sociology Of crime explana-
ton and closer to a rational
ization that stringent re-
medal measures must be
taken. The committing of
crime is not to be excused on
the basis of background Teeth
put back into the law will def
initely reduce the crime
rate. What cannot, or is not
taught, in the family, must
be counteracted by the court.
If the penalty is great enough
it has been proven laws will
be better respected and kept.
Pursue this course, Judge
Bazelon, and leave the ad-
justments of society to the
sociologiSts and welfare
workers. Your obligation is
to protect our citizens by en-
forcement Of the laws not to
temporize its wrath.
Carlton E. ROxbrOugh, jr.
50
Judge Bazelon of the Court
of Appeals treated Washing
ton to an interesting and re-
vealing judicial opinion" in
his Law Day speech-inter-
esting because 1t expounded a
novel and radical concept Of
the law and revealing be-
cause it tended TO explain to
a degree some Of the opinions
of the learned Judge.
Those who view the law as
a mechanism of the social
order shaped over centuries
to preserve society as a unit
and to protect the individual
from predators, whether pri-
vate outlaws or arms of gov
ernment, must be astonished
TO learn from so high-rank-
ing a Judge that laws "be-
come instruments Of oppres-
sion" and hence are unjust
and wrong If they set stand
ards too high "for those who
lack the training and capac-
ity to follow them" This can
only mean that those in the
lowest moral or ethical strata
are being put upon by the
rest Of us who may not be OF
the lowest.
The law Of the jungle, to
the extent that 1t can be
called law, is gagged on the
standards of the jackal and
the hyena and their kind, and
their practice Of eating when
they are hungry without
bothering about who owns
the flesh. And probably on
rainy days the jackals will
take the nearest victim, even
a fellow jackal, in order 10
avoid undue exposure while
maintaining the reasonable
level OF subsistence that is
the natural and just due OF
every jackal.
Likewise, the laws OF the
Nazis were geared to tho
moral and ethical capacitie;
OF Hitler and his pack oi
animals. And those who went
along, either through lack OF
training and capacity 10 dc
otherwise. or because con-
formity was necessary In Or
der TO eat and TO survive
men like Eichmann-should
be excused. ! suppose that
higher standards would have
unjustly oppressed such peo-
Pile
/ do not want TO live under
a legal system geared TO the