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Show "rnilk and Honey" Diet By J. Edgar Hoover Director Federal Bureau of Investigation We are faced today with one of the most disturbing trends that I have witnessed in my years in law enforcement enforce-ment an overzealous pity for the criminal and an equivalent equiv-alent disregard for his victim. This dangerous tendency Is inherent in the various theories and systems now being suggested, many of which are aimed at making sweeping changes in our established methods of dealing with the lawless. A continual study of all practices is a necessity, for there is no progress in a static society, but every conceivable angle must be consid ered before revisions are made. r v . One proposal, which proponents attempt to justify from an economy standpoint, calls for a vast decrease in the number of persons sentenced to prison. Other diverse schemes being propounded, if adopted, would have the effect ef-fect of virtually opening the doors of our prisons or turning turn-ing them into little more than restrictive rescrt hotels. These plans, of course, would remove the threat of the thing most feared by the criminal punishment for his miSdApiison official proposes that all jails beV converted into hospitals or rehabilitation centers. Inmates are not in prison to be punished but to be treated as sick men, he asserts. With these few words he has adjudged all criminals crimin-als mentally ill. Do away entirely with definite prison terms, exhorts another Individual, who advocates the establishment es-tablishment of an absolute indeterminate sentence system sys-tem under which a criminal would remain in jail only that lpntrth of time he requires to convince a person or croup of persons that he is 'rehabilitated." A premium would be placed on acting ability. Still another expounds a reciprocal law throughout the United States whereby all charges against an individual -r- no matter for what crime or in what jurisdiction would b& wiped out merely by serving one prison sentence. Americans are noted for favoring the "underdog. But all too often wc have witnessed a "mad dog" transformed into an "underdog" by certain reople who quickly forget or choose to ignore the great suffering by innocent victims vic-tims of hardened and professional criminals. |
