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Show GREATER RESPECT FOR LAW Legion Probation Plan Saves Many Detroit De-troit Ex-Service Men From Stigma of Prison Terms. Judge Thomas M. Cotter of the Recorder's Re-corder's court of Detroit, Mich., acting act-ing on suggestion of the American Legion, Le-gion, has successfully put into operation opera-tion a probation plan, which has instilled in-stilled in the minds of many former service men a high regard for the authority au-thority of the law. The system was suggested in 1019, following discharge from military service serv-ice of many thousands of men, of whom some were forced to appear in police court on minor charges of misdemeanors. mis-demeanors. Under the plan inaugurated inaugu-rated many of these men were spared the stigma of a prison sentence, due to a far-sighted policy instigated by Judge Cotter. - Only the word of the man himself, with a promise to be a better citizen, and the word from some American Legion Le-gion official Is necessary to save the man from sentence. The plan works remarkablv well, according to the re- ' 1 Judge Thomas M. Cotter. ports of the court. Out of S47 former service men who appeared before Judge Cotter, only six or seven reappeared re-appeared in his court to answer charges for violation of the statutes. The plan has been adopted in every police court in the city of Detroit. At the time of the instigation of the probation system Detroit was filled with bolshevistic propaganda, and the success of the Legion system Indicates the turning point of many former soldiers sol-diers from disregard of law and order to a high respect for the law's authority. |