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Show We art dedicated to the public interest, to fairness to innovation and tnmtk, and to the OPINIONS mccurmcy, restless pursuit of excellence.' Pulitzer mission statement All THE DAILY HI RALD Tl I SDW.OC TOM R b. IW8 Miranda warnings enabling criminals to escape punishment ,Jn 1963, a man with a prior arrest record, who had dropped out .of the ninth grade, was picked up by the Phoenix police for questioning in the kidnapping and rape of an woman. At the end of a r interrogation, Ernesto Miranda orally confessed to the crime, described the rape and signed a statement certifying that the confession was;yoluntary, that no threats or intimidation had been used, and that he fully understood his rights. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Miranda appealed his conviction on the,1grounds that his attorney had not been present during questioning and, accordingly, his confession could not be treated as truly voluntary. The Supreme Court agreed and in 1965 issued perhaps the most famous criminal .decision in history, Miranda vs. and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present while you are being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one The Miranda warnings are familiar ncKjust to lawyers and judges but to anyone who has ever watched a cop show or movie: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can MY TURN , understand these rights?" When Miranda was decided, supporters of the decision hailed its protections against coerced confessions and police brutality. But critics warned that the decision would make it more difficult for the police to solve withcrimes. (Miranda was retried and convicted. out the confession He was paroled in 1972 and was killed in a bar fight. Ironically, his attacker was questioned and released. That crime was never solved.) Now, more than 30 years later, the National Center for Policy Analysis has issued a report by Professor Paul G. Cassell of the University of Utah College of Law which argues that the critics were right: Miranda has hampered the ability of the police to solve crimes and has resulted in significant percentages of criminals going already in desuetude. Kven the court's opinion acknowledged that such practices were "undoubtedly the exception now." Besides, as Justice Harlan's dissent pointed out, the Miranda warnings would do nothing to cure police misconduct: "Those who use third-degre- e tactics and deny them in court are equally able and destined to lie as skillfully about warnings and waivers." Since society is paying a heavy-pricin increased crime due to Miranda, and since Miranda was designed to cure a problem that was already solving itself, alternatives deserve new attention. Videotaping all interrogations, as Cassell suggests, would avoid the rubber-hosproblem. So would the presence of a a. Using standard statistical analysis techniques, Cassell argues that other factors, including number of police, money spent of policing, overall crime rate, number of juveniles in the population, the unemployment rate, dis- will be provided for you. Do you two-hou- Arizona. near the rates that prevailed posable per-capit- real income, a live labor-forc- e births to participation, unmarried mothers, and levels of urbanization and the distribution of crimes in large and small cities have not had as measurable an effect on crime clearance as the Miranda deci- Mona Charen The statistics on crime clearance rates (or solving crimes) shows a marked decline in the years following the Miranda decision. Violent crime clearance rates before 1965 hovered at around 60 percent. But in the years following Miranda, the rates dropped steeply, to 55 percent in 1966, 51 percent in 1967 and 47 percent in 1968. Violent-crimclearance rates have never rebounded to highs. Property crimes are cleared at slightly higher rates than violent crimes but, again, nowhere e e sion. According to Cassell, there were between 56,000 and 136,000 more unsolved and therefore unpunished violent crimes in 1995 because of Miranda. For property crimes, the figure is between 72,000 and 299,000. Since the Supreme Court recommended the Miranda warnings as a e magistrate. But the Miranda warnings have had the effect of discourageven those ing all defendants stricken with conscience or temporarfrom confessily too scared to lie safe-gvar- not as a constitutional right, Cassell argues that the court might ing. now wish to reconsider. The irony is that in 1965, coercive questioning methods by police were Mona Charen is a columnist for Creators Syndicate Inc. JCKJ Cottfbqy (Heme taeiricaiiD icon ami , ,, fiimfiry By MATTHEW L. LEONE COMMENTARY He had been with us for so long And that is how most of us in 'reasons we loved him seemed to County, Calif., will remember Orange have already disappeared into myth as the man who helped Orange him, and 'the history books. And yet, until County out of the shadows of Los Friday, we had a living, breathing Angeles by moving his baseball team American icon among us. out of the shadow of the Dodgers. Gene Autry, dead at 91, by virtue of I never met Gene Autry. But over the timing and some personal alchemy, last 15 years, I saw him perhaps two rose above whatever considerable taldozen times, walking slowly, often with ents he possessed to become more than a cane, frequently on the arm of Jackie a successful entertainer and businessor an aide, always in boots, Western-cu- t man. Like Roy Rogers, John Wayne, suit and white Stetson, from Jimmy Stewart and perhaps a handful front of Anaheim in his parking space of other personalities, across the plaza to the ballStadium, Gene Autry came to represent, in some park, or after the game, on his way way, what it meant to be an American. back to the car for the long drive home Did there ever exist in the expan to Ix)s Angeles or sion and settling of Palm Springs. the American West I Gene Autry guess It occurred to a cowboy of such me then and now taught me how to be a humility and that the stories decency and about him being a long-sufferibaseball integrity, who fan first, an owner could handle a gun fan. Which, when you second, might be and a guitar at a This think about it, is as much true. full gallop? immensely Well, Gene Autry of an American frail old archetype wealthy, mad us believe in man seemed to sic.an American as the singing cowboy and spend a lot of time cowboy and, I at the ballpark, as self-ma-de businessman. I did, watching the that por team he owned trayal as con- trived as it could and I had adopted measure to I some contain didn't moved when California, appear struggle of truth, some true measure of the man year in, year out, against the normal hihYstelf and of the American character, vicissitudes of baseball and the peculiar bad luck that seemed to afflict the we'wbuld not have rewarded him with such' admiration and riches. Angels. Surely there are places he'd rather have been than this field of His comfortable voice and futility, I thought. And yet, here he personality were a balm to was. And so was I. for relief average Americans looking It has not always been easy being frbm the Depression. He was a sports an Angels fan. But it made it easier, mlogul who seemed to spend more somehow, watching a man who had time in the locker room swapping stoaccomplished so much slowly walk, res with his players than in the again and again, toward the ballpark bdandroom negotiating contracts. gates, hope alive in his heart. It could not have been just a perIt really doesn't add up to much, formance. There was a wholeness and I guess Gene Autry taught me but wholesomeness to Gene Autry's life, a how to be a baseball match, it seemed, between his personwhen think fan. about it, WTiich, He you sang ality and his public pursuits. is as much of an American archetype in dance halls as a boy in Oklahoma, as the singing cowboy and accompanying himself on a $5 mailbusinessman. Gene Autry was all order guitar, this man who later this, and more. Godspeed. recorded more than 600 songs and star for so long. He was a Matthew L. Leone is deputy editor baseball prospect wasra editorial page of the Orange the of media this mogul as'ff'young man, Anaheim. to Register. County the Angels whfl'forought the1 show-busines- s House is indeed a problem Orem city resident Anna Mclntire, who criticized The Daily Herald and Paradise Drive neighbor Brian Dabb, did not have the facts. The house relocated by Rick McKell has indeed been a problem on Paradise Drive since it was moved there over two years ago. The vacant house sat on pilings for over a year. Building materials have blown off the house and into neighboring yards and homes, damaging ng sus-pecfc- if property and frustrating all residents who take pride in the area. I am sure Mclntire would not have been so patient if the house sat next door to her. McKell repeatedly ignored zoning ordinances, thus creating a hazard for children and a magnet for delinquents. On two separate occasions the police were summoned to remove juveniles from the premises. Most neighbors have written letters, made phone calls and gone to court hearings, voicing their frustration with McKell's lackadaisical work; Brian Dabb is not a lone voice in this matter. McKell's philanthropical efforts for other causes have nothing to do with his failure to comply with the aw-shuc- ! long-sufferin- g self-mad- box-offic- law. Shauna e Orem e Disappointed in Tanner minor-leagu- e m 60TCAUJfiSHtt5W .r 5H0UPSAYTHAT. utiUKeop- 1,1 . Surprisingly, one of our state By Doonesbury mala, m he BEEN titiz Garry Trudeau RCOPTO ' rt -- repre- - sentatives appears to need a lesson in democracy. Rep. Jordan Tanner (The Daily Herald letter to the editor, Sept. 14). claims that Proposition 5, which will actually amend the Utah State s Constitution to require a majority on ballot initiatives dealing with wildlife issues only, is needed to protect us from "animal rights activists based in Washington, D.C." Mr. Tanner, I find it embarrassing to have to tell you this, but activists from Washington cannot vote on Utah ballot initiatives, only Utahns can. Are you trying to say that Utahns cannot be trusted to vote on wildlife issues? I think most Utahns will be insulted by your position that we need to be protected from ourselves at the ballot box. 1 am also puzzled how you can make the statement that "Proposition 5 isn't about limiting citizen power, as some politicians would lead you to believe" when that's exactly what it would do. two-third- policy. Martin Steitz South Jordan BYU fans are poor sports What happened to integrity? Brigham Young University football fans seem to have forgotten the meaning of the word. If everything doesn't go their way, they turn like dogs to their own vomit. Comparing them to the south ends of a herd of northbound horses is apropos, but grossly unfair to the horses, who in most cases are much smarter than they are. Booing and hissing under any circumstances, including sports events, only proclaims the lack of character of those engaging in it. Stay home and watch such events in the privacy of your home and don't inflict your ignorance on the fans who embrace higher principles. Richard Anderson Lehi Proposition 5 would limit the ability of citizens to affect public policy through the ballot initiative process in a specific arena, the first constitutional amendment of its kind in the country. That very fact would threaten the democratic principle embodied by ballot initiatives that all the citizens of the state have an Mallard Fillmore M nm irsAnx iFJr,.-r- , 1 ' I I iv i l imi should a&to-m,.- u j v Ail r-- v V a. v t 7mm.l 'ill I u Tt j i ) vk y xem tr y V ' Bruce Tinsley By J II V B. Sticht equal voice. Once we decide that isn't important, then what do we sacrifice next, education ballot Tax reform ballot initiatives? The principle that Utah citizens deserve a voice in public policy underlies our ballot initiative process, and I'm shocked and discouraged that you are willing to sacrifice my rights. I urge all Utah voters to vote no on Proposition 5 as an insult to voter intelligence and as dangerous public LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'V. riT -- J I |