Students Frame Law for Delinquents

Two law students have proposed a new Massachusetts statute for dealing with defective delinquents. The pan, Efrem Gordon '46 3L and Lewis Harris appeared before the United Prison Association of Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon.

The present ruling, which Gordon termed "vague and ambiguous," has been under criticism for a number of months. When the Association learned that Gordon and Harris had been working on the problem, they were summoned before the body.

"Ineffective"

According to Gordon, the law is now ineffective because it does not provide satisfactory safeguards for the protection of the mentally-ill person. This is largely because it is unclear and lets the state handle cases without proper procedure, he says.

Three main defeats in the present system of treatment were mentioned by Gordon and Harris. Because they have no money and can't defend themselves, they say, the defective delinquents can't adequately plead their cases before the courts.

This difficulty is made worse by the methods of prosecution. Although the defendants are briefly examined by psychiatrists, their decision may be overruled by the court. Courts often do this when psychiatrists recommend release.

The second major defect occurs in the transfer of patients from the department of mental health to the penal department for defective delinquents, under the Bureau of Correction. As the system now stands, a person may be transferred from the first institution to the second for simple violation of rules.

He can thus be sent to the penal institution without having committed any crime, and is forced to mingle with hardened criminals.

The third point in the students' criticism is the decision of the state psychiatrists: they are required to state whether or not the patient is defective, but nothing else.

In the proposed statute, Gordon and Harris call for appointment of a three member commission, only one person of which may be attached to the department of mental health. The commission would contain two members of the American Psychiatric Society and would prescribe tests for the defective delinquents.

1Q Numbered

It would also set an 1Q number above which no patient could be committed. This board would require full case-histories for all defendants.

A second provision in the proposed statute would assure private counsel for defendents. The hearings would be before a special session of the superior court, which would assure special and complete attention to the cases. To remedy the transfer system, the students have made up a list of certain crimes which would allow admission is the penal institution. This would insure that all patients committed to the correction institute would be dangerous criminals