Kennedy Submits Bill For Academy of Criminal Law

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.) introduced a bill Thursday to create an Academy of Criminal Justice based on the proposals of a professor emeritus of the Law School and the Harvard Student Legislative Research Bureau. The Academy may be located at Harvard.

As Kennedy's bill now stands, the school "would be established on the campus of, and in conjunction with, one of the nation's leading law schools." A spokesman for Kennedy said that since the bill was suggested by a Harvard faculty member, Harvard would probably be one of the law schools considered.

West Point Legal Academy

Sheldon Glueck, Roscoe Pound Professor of Law, Emeritus, suggested in June 1963 the establishment of a legal academy, similer to the military academy at West Point, which would attract a better class of lawyers" to criminal law and which would erase the image of the held as "a dirty business."

Glueck said that several senators of both parties expressed interest in the school, but he took no action on the proposal until the spring of 1964. At that time, he visited Kennedy and discussed he plan with him. Kennedy said that he could study the matter carefully before congress opened.

Also in the spring of 1964, Glueck asked the Harvard Student Legislative research Bureau, a group of law students who analyze legal projects and draft specific legislation from them, to put his proposal into statutory form. The drafting was completed this fall.

The draft, with a few minor changes, in the bill Kennedy introduced on Thursday.

The proposed Academy would be a four-bar law school integrating sociology, psychology, and psychiatry into the basic law curriculum. Kennedy hopes that by updating the study of criminal law, the school will "elevate the quality of criminal representation and raise the standard of criminal justice."

The student body of the proposed Academy will be recruited in the same way as West Point's. The 105 members of each class will be appointed by senators and by the President, and they will pay no tuition. They will, however, pledge to practice in the criminal field for at least four years.

Glueck believes the bill will pass. "I think the time is ripe because of the rise in crime and delinquency and the recognition of the virtual breakdown of current methods of dealing with the problem."