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Show 54 j, Ko-- e - "Pip 15 at, c c0 (Sites o- -si or on Causes tultjnt to the Nat n.j eutnor 0t a tom-and Prevention of Violence TPe r uion study on "Assays ns of Pre den's Pnscoalitv Trait " In tnis artice he cr tic zes the V e t to ' p ,4 c' ,rc j. ara egal conclusicns that can be rea heo from if ) ' ef Ey DR. LAWRENCE Z. FREEDMAN Professor I Diversity It edy was of Psy chiatrv of Chic;1 go School of Mpclinne trial The of mrhan SnhcJi was a trag- ai 0ime both and defense counsel agreed umieee-ar- y, pros-utto- he guiltySen.of aainatingKenne- Rooert F. ls Despite apparently confiadicto- urory, r mental experts on both sid's did not test i then a- differ in ppeal if Sirhan And both piosecution Dr. Freedman during the trial that Sirhan should much spend the rest of his life in jail agreed of recommendation for execuof the nation, mclud-ir- g probably those responsible for the procecution. But it is unlikely that Sirhan will be executed. For a decade this tragedy will continue to be played out with appeals and counter-appealCapital punishment is now unusual m this country, but life lor an indeterminate period under the shadow of death is surely cruel and unusual punishment. The tion jurys surprised most Judge Herbert V Walker decided to proceed with a trial rather than a preagreed plea, as m the James Earl Ray case, because, he said, the American public has a right to know the facts. However, the trial was a dramatic production played out, not in the interest of ascertaining truth or judging fairly, but for the benefit of its audience. It was a good show for its viewers. But it was a miserable charade for its participants. The crucial issue was not whether Snhan had killed the senator. There was no doubt that he had. The trial was held to ascertain the degree of the young Jordanians responsibility for the assassinat- ion. Although the mental experts agreed in their appraisal of Sirhans mental illness, they differed on the relationship between this disability and his legal respon- s sibility. The jury found him guilty of murder In the first degree. This was the plea and the judgment which all parties except had agreed upon before Judge Walker the trial. Prosecutor Lyman D. Compton had bound himself not to ask for the death penalty, but for life imprisonment The defense attorney had agreed that a sentence of life was just and equitable. Sirhan and his family participated in this consensus. j ; i ? N n Aj. y II - SaLal u 'Vw be anpiopuate. Te ;ros.cution in tins first phase earned out its original intention of seeking a life sentence. jff j In either case, Sirhan would have become eligible for panile after a certain time. Under both legal formulas he might, and picbably would, spend his life m prison, or, if his condition worsened, m a mental institution When, however, the jury bi ought in a of first degree murder, prosecutor Compton began to emphasize the cieath penalty, although eailier he had explicitly rejected it. Compton could not have faded to be aware that a sentence to the gas chamber for Sirhan would have virtually no chance of ever being earned out. It has been almost two years since any man in the United States has been executed. verdict DESERLT When Judge Walker insisted that a trial be held, the defense sought a verdict of murder in the second degree, but made it clear that a life sentence would Sirhans defense capacity to wmch he was taken Dr. Diamond quite property used hyp nosis as a diagnostic examination pioce dure He erred, m my view, by failing to make clear that it was the intact, conscious man r.ot the somnolent, hypnotized man who was being studied and desenbed. A hypnotized person ir not conscious. An individual in this condition is a not the whole person which is the law s concern What ought we to conclude from Sirhans trial com eming future policy in part-perso- was diminished murder. similar cases? We have reason to be pioud that the killer of one of our most important political figures received a tnal so scrupulous Because diminished responsibility was to be decided upon by the degree of his mental health or illness, Sirhans defense attorneys produced as much evidence as possille to demoastrate his psychiatric disability his traumatic experience as a young child during the Jordanian Isiaeli war, his unstable family of quarreling parents and later a fatherless home. Sirhan murdered Senator Kennedy in June, 1968, the same month that his parents were divorced. But the greatest emphasis was placed the testimony of tw'o psychologists and two psychiatrists who had tested Sirhan. These experts, testifying in his defense, gave evidence that he was on The first psychologist described responses of Sirhan to the Rorschach test, a series of cards reproducing seemingly meaningless inkblots. What the person sees in them must reflpet what he himself is because in the objective sense there is nothing, no actual representation, in the abstract blots. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, sentenced to death for assassination. as paranoid abnormal, revealed he because d hypersensitivity; tke sense that the world was intent on harming him and the consequent reaction that he must save himself by striking first. He was thought to be schizophrenic because his responses were interpreted as revealing serious character defects, including gioss separation of Another way the thematic appercepthinking and feeling. They revealed a tion test in which Sirhan looked at a sedampening of feeling far beyond normal nes of cards, each containing a different in some instances and excessive emotion picture of people in some uncertain relain others, each extreme inappropriate to tionship to each other, and was asked to the Situation. tell a story about each. His stones, like One psychiatrist, Dr. Eric Marcus, his Rorschach responses, were scored and compared to the responses of others, stressed Sirhans resemblance to political healthy and sick, who have already assassins in American history, and men taken the tests. who had threatened presidents with harm. On the basis of these tests the psyThe second psychiatrist, Dr. Bernard chologists diagnosed him as paranoid and as schizophrenic. He was desenbed Diamond, described how he had easily hate-fille- hypnotized the defendant and how m this hypnotic trance Sirhan had remembered and his slaying of Senator Kennedy, even though he denied any recollection of these events when not hypnotized. The prosecution then pioduced seemingly equally qualified experts who testified that, essentially, Sirhans responsibility was unimpaired. When the testimony of all the experts, whether called by prosecution or defense, is studied we realize that they agree in their diagnosis of Sirhans mental condition. They disagree about the relationship of mental condition to his responsi- bility. Thus, they disagree not about a clinicondition that each is trained to diagnose or treat, but about a legal standard for which they are untrained. And, in cal ly concerned with the protection of his rights. The tnal of Sirhan was a reassut-m- g revelation of how a democratic system can work even when the victim is one of the great men, and the offender is a young man without power, property or standing. This fact overndes by far the unedifymg content of the tnal. So long as the law requires that the state of mind of man accused of a crime is a relevant consideration to be determined in open court, the aadition of diminished capacity to the previous alternatives of responsible and guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity is a humane, rational, and progressive step. It is inevitable that the early cases will seem confused. The law moves slowly; It will take decades to clear up this ambi- guity But if Sirhan is indeed mentally ill, then why in the name of humanity should he have been subjected to thi3 public humiliation like a witches tnal of the 17th Century? What islands of coherence he had retained were solemnly assaulted under the fascinated scrutiny of m'Uions. They wall be further shaken by life in pnson under the shadow of death. We shall learn more about Sirhan as time goes on. We shall learn how to prevent the development of men with his violent predisposition. Bat, when prevention fails, we wiU have to apply the legal lessons his case has so tragically brought into focus so that justice and humanity will be better served. 4 1 i YOUR HEALTH How To Choose YOUR SCHOOLS By LAVOR K. CHAFFIN A Psychiatrist k , I. I i ? I I By GEORGE C. THOSTESON, MD. Dear Dr. Thosteson: How does one go about choosing a psychiatrist if you suspect an emotional disorder? Alto, would I have to take time off hum woik to see a paychiatrst or arc thpre psychiatrists who will take patients after hours or on Can a psychiatrist determine on one or two visits whether a patient needs tieatment, or whether his pioblems are natural anxieties which he is solving as T.M. well as can be expected? Answer: Ive been asked easier questions than these! But Ill offer what help I can. Yes, most psychiatrists see patients at odd houis, evenings, or on week-endbut they reserve such times for patients most in need of such appointments. There is still such a snortage of psychiatrists (a shortage which cannot be (orrected quickly) that tor your first appointments I would suggest that you take whatever time you can get, even though it means taking time off from work. At best, you undoubtedly will have to wad some time for an appointment. Your best chance most likely is to discuss this with your regular physician first. If he considers immediate treatment urgent, he mav be able to get an earlier appointment for you than otherwise would be possible. Yes, a psychiatrist generally can determine in one or two visits whether much treatment is needed, or only a little, and Sometimes this is apparent to him after only a few minutes. Sometimes, also, he can refei a patient to some other source of care some general physicians, w'h'le not psychiatrists. have had enough psychiatric training to do an excellent job of caring for patients whose problems are not too week-ends- I i 5 f. I Deseiet News Education Editor The march of technology is inexorable in the schools just as it is elsewhere. When tractors were invented hardly believed anyone they ever would displace horses on farms. American But manufac tunng techniques made horses unso economical much so that horses virtually have disappeared. Most of remaining are used not as woik horses, but as saddle horses, for pleasure and recreation. The passenger trains once seemed secure as the ultimate in transportation. But railroads now are striving to get out of the passenger business which is more and more taken over by the airlines. American classrooms have been slow to adopt technological laigest and most important business. It serves or employs well over the nations population. The rise in educational costs have far outstripped the rise in school enrollment. It has become so great that government at all levels is painfully aware of its demands. one-fourt- h MUSICAL WHIRL By HAROLD LUNDSTROM Deseret News Music Editor The University of Utah Opera Company, successors to OKon and Johnson, version of presented an before a large and highly Helza-poppi- n, entertained Kingsbury Ilall audience Thursday evening The opera pies-ente- d The Mother Of Us AH , Educa- economic significance. Tills situation is changing rapidly. Education has become perhaps the nations This very fact is spurring to find many icient and economical methods tion in hopes of getting the under control. Understanding efforts by more eff- music and a libretto that, it can safely be said, oncia buffs will find nowhei e else. Vugil Thomson leit no note unturned in his quest to be original And Gertrude Stems text shows only too clearly how even if music hath charms, its librettos usually havent. The word opera is the plural of opus, and whichever way you look at it can only The Mother of Us All, mcan works Tins is what the startled audience works was given last night, the Thee w'oiks1 started light off on time when the 3" piece orchestra marched in from every door, blowing away ot a half dozen different pieces. Ardean Watts came through the curtain wearing an Uncle Sam top hat. The hijmks continued as the University Chorus sat dispersed among the cash customers and let a couple of hundred balloons sail to the ceiling, passed out flags to tne house, and otherwise had itself a bash What is the story of The Mother Of Us AH? Forget it! Apparently, Gertrude Stem bundled together all her rejected stuff through the years and gave it to Mr. Thomson and said that the story is a Susan B. Anthony, is a Susan B. Anthony, is a Susan B Anthony . . . One calls to mind (one doesnt really: one had to look it up in an encyclopaedia) that aphorism, Music begins where speech ends. If you can make any sense out of this, then you are sure to doubly enjoy The Mother Of Us All. But it it is more likely that youve ceased to care what the story is, then that makes at leat 200 of us. No one in Kuigsbury Hall Thursday gave a hoot by the end of the first act when he finally rc alizrd that there isnt any story. down to Perhaps we hed better some Hard Facts. The Russians of instruc- rising cost The size of the education enterprise also has attracted the attention of innovative manufacturers who see the classroom as a vast potential market for instructional systems they are capable of designing and building. With customary American initiative and drive they Will build thcr systems, prove them to be efor ficient, and sell them to the schools some other user. If the present system of public schools does not choose to use the new technologies, legislators at both tne state and federal levels will turn instruction over to new organizations, or perhaps to private groups. The Job Corps Centers already are a step in this direction. The implications ought to be clear. Both educational leaders and teachers should welcome the new technologies and put them to work while they still can be made servants. If they do not they may find technology has turned into an implacable master. well-know- n gt f Cohleen Bischoff portrayed the role of Susan B. Anthony as a dedicated Brun-hildHad she sung with sharp articulation, Im sure that the audience would not have been frustrated so long: it would have realized that The Mother Of Us All is a spoof, from first note to last. In Mrs. Bischoffs defense, I should report that because of a throat ailment, she had been vocally benched by her doctor for the past 10 days. Because there were microphones all over the Kingsbury Hall stage, I am not able to report what kinds of voices, amplified as they were, any of the singa. ers had Suffice It to say The Mother of Us All is not really a singers opera it reany is a musical vehicle for clowns. And clowns galore the University Opera Compary has. There is so much going on all the time in the form of side shows, that one quite frequently iorgets to watch what is going on center front. One scene alone when Thomas Fast and William Call set up an easel and each stait painting on the same canvas is wm th the pi ice of the show. Then Lie v join with Don Watts for a hilarious Rockettes rouiine. lor the funniest night m fi'wn, The Mother Of Us All in Kmgsburv Hall Friday and Satui cfay evenings ai S 30 pm. is a cimh. lead-pip- e I wjafvjW NEWS, 23 OUR MAN JONES It's Enough To Make Clyde Roar By HARRY JONES Pity Clvde Miller out seuetary state of The poot guv as a lion by the tail In fact, he has four lions by the tail, if they have tails. They are battered hunks of cement that guaid the east and west portals of the State Capitol Erosion, age, and kids have taken their toll One of the lion needs a nose job worse than a mediocre heavyweight. But if Mr. Miller orders the lions removed and destioyed, he is in trouble wih a sentimental and historical group which wants to save everything over 15 years old If he removes them and has to pay to have them stored, he will in be trouble with a taxpayer group And if he leaves them at then sentiy posts and has to pay to have them patched up, he will be in trouble by the same taxpayer group and a bunch who call themselves prog Mr. Jones ressives And it is a ouch that Mr. MiUer will not please everyone should he decide to replace the lions with some other sculpture. Mr. Miller could give them away to Lions Clubs in the area. The club member who goofs up the mort during the month would have to store a lion for the next four weeks. doublp-knntte- d We could use them to keep the banka of the Jordan from eroding during the run-of- f. The lions have started a little feud between artists. Nothing serious . . . just a few words no police cars. ... Avard Fairbanks doesnt like the lions. He is an artist and sculptor of wide experience and fame. He didnt actually suggest the Jordan River idea, but leans that way. Mr. Fairbanks didnt exactly tear down Gavin Jack. Gavin was the guy who was hired for the job of building the lions in the first place. Mr Fairbanks was complimentary to Gavin. He said he was a good cement man down on the Panama Canal, but no sculptor. Mr. Fairbanks was complimentary to replaced with a bevy, or whatever cougars come in. He has had some experience with cougar sculptoring. Then Mabel Frazer, an artist of note, g and a resident of our valley, came to the rescue of Gavin. She wrote to the chief tail holder, Mr. Miller. She d and had said that Gavin was a splendid architectural sense. There was little opportunity for a sculptor in his day, she said. She favors a lion repair job and suggests that Mil.ard F. Malm, 565 be consulted. He apparently helped Gavin with his lion act. Then Mrs. Frazer fired her broadside at those people suggesting that cougars replace the lions. The cougar Is found all over the West, much of Central and South America. It is a slinky, sneaky beast of prey that destroys deer, cattle and sheep, she says. life-lon- An Opera Is An Opera , Is An Opera contains it advances. tors have held that the best, and practically the only suitable method of instruction, was the teacher lecture-demo- n Dear Dr. Thosteson : With all tins talk about cancer and smoking, I would like to know just how much you can smoke without its being harmful. I read that a light smoker is one who smokes one pack a day. If a person smoked from 5 to 10 igaiettes a day, could this Cairo cancer? Mrs. L.L. Answer: Suie, and caieless driving causes accidents. How many times can you be careless before you smash up the family car? One pack a day isn t a light smokei aocoiding to anything I've read, and 5 to Hi ugaiettes a day, from all the stud'es I am familiar with, CAN be harmful If jou smoke so little that you tan be suic of suffering no consequences, you nvght ali. stration system used by the ancient Greeks and probably by generatons of their forbears. To a large degree, teachers consistently have resisted the use of technological tools, even as aids in their own lecis underturing Their reluctance standable. Its no different than citizens reluctance to give up outmoded forms of municipal government. funcBecause it is a socially-orientetion in a free enterprise system, education has tended to be immune from the pressure Ot profit and loss. The necessity to make a profit, or at least to avoid a loss, has been little felt in the schools. The school business itself was of little d the ones deep-seate- as well not smoke t ? BOOKS Putting Technology To Work i 4 ft Ffday, May 2, 196t presidential assassins or these who threatened tnem. But he does not belong in either category. Dr. Marcus gave too little attention to the culture fiom which Sirhan sprang and to the culture in sible nr not responsible. In California there is, m addition, a third category of diminished responsibility. Neither normal nor psychotic, neither rational nor insane, such a man is, nonetheless, sufficiently disturbed in his thinking and feeling that his capacity to be aware of or to control the evil intent of his act is diminished. v lie ai.v event, legality had to be decided hv the juiy, aided by the judges advice a id the evidence produced in court Unfortunately, it must be added that the psychologists for the defense ofieied based upon nonmedical diagnoses medical, oi psychological, test lesiilts Diagnosis, however, requues that all available aspects of the peison tie consul ered Just as the diagnosis of a physical ailment must be based upon both tests and physical examination, so in psychiatric ailments tests alone aie uisulticieut. Similarly, a man who mui dors must be studied first as an individual before he is placed in a class of individuals Dr Marcus placed Sirhan in the class of In most state a man accused of a criminal act may be found either respon- defend and I v? JWTT Was Sirhan Trial An Unnecessary Tragedy'? I i r " jvg j. 1 ( 1 i 'I i'm well-traine- A CULTURAL HISTORY OF RUSSIA. By Joel Carmichael. Weybright and ley. Tal- $12 50. The Soviet Union may be a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but mostly to people ignui ant of Russias past History doesnt explain anything in terms of cause and effect, but it provides a framework foi otherwise disparate and seemingly capricious facts. This truism is underscored by Carmichaels work which, though somewhat schematic and general, sheds much light on the processes that transformed Russia from a Viking enclave into a superstate It is not entirely irrelevant o the Soviet methods of bringing happiness to the Czechs that the Russians, from the dawn of their historv, were passionately addicted to encompassing orthodoxies, ecclesiastical and otherwise. Carmichael properly emphasizes the tendency. Nor ii it Irrelevant to Soviet Russias notable egocentricity and messianic t s of her hisimpulses that for tory, Russias toehold on civilization vas precarious, her isolation from Europe complete. Contemplating a nation of spacefarers and nuclear bombs today, it is somewhat jarring to be reminded that only seven books were printed in Russia in the year after Peter the Greats death in 1725. Literature by which a nation defines itself, scarcely began m Russia until the 19th Century. FmaUy, the long record of despotism and autocracy, with attendant intellectual regimentation, hold some meaning at least for Soviet attitudes toward liberalization. How much of the Soviet form Is Communist, how much just Russian? Cultural history suggests that many things laid at the door of Marx and Lenin have far older antecedents. De-Sot- o, Slinky and sneaking . . . this gal never went to senool down in Cougarville . . . BYU. Before we get the entire art colony up in arms, why not settle for four little guys holding up models of the state? Something luce Atlas and world . . . only have the fellow bent over just a little taxmoie. Then just mark them payers! eight-tenth- Carmichael makes the point, iiiimiiiimuiiimmu'iTntnmnimnimTiiitimiitimiiiiiiiiiiuiin BIG TALK only slightly overstressed, that Russia is the only country that contrived to enslave its own population, a process Usually associated with fore gn conquest elsewhe-- e. serfdom IromcaUy, the enslavement became absolute under that intelligent and enlightened ruler, Catherine the Great, whose lofty ideals of Veteran inspiration were seldom applied where it mattered. Haying with ideas, however, has iK perils for monarths, and Catherine's long flutation with Western Europe provided the conceptual nucleus i ir I, at RusMar intelligent-"('be word appear-- ' f'rt Maybe if they raise the price of stamps to 10c, they could afford to put a little glue on them!" toward the end of the 18th Century) which budgeted and eventually overthrew the Dwtt ) Czais, Rene J. Campon (AP) From photo taken py Ltonat V. McNaely for th New1 pcpijiar dnHv Baby Birthday feature i)IIIUI!lllll!!!!ll!l!llilIli!llint'lilUIIUIII!itlll!lll!!!lll!tn 7 V |