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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1987)
Presumption of guilt new judical standard In a landmark ruling favoring stronger anti-crime laws, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the judicial principle of presumption of innocence in a ti-3 decision about pretrial detention on Tuesday. The Court upheld the 1984 Hail Reform Act. saying it was constitutional to deny a suspect bail if a judge determin ed “the safety of any other person and the community” was at risk. The ruling will apply to suspects charged with federal crimes. This ruling follows a similar stance taken two years ago when the Court allowed the preventive detention of juveniles that are perceived to be a potential threat to the community. The purpose behind our judical system is to protect' society and to uphold an individual's consitutional rights. This decision, however, denies the individual's right to due process in a futile attempt to prevent future crimes. Chief justice William Renquist circumvented the 14th amendment’s right to tlue process of law by claiming the 1984 Hail Reform Act is regulator in nature. He said the time a suspect spends in jail does not reflect a form of punish ment hut instead is a short-term detention. Bui jail is jail. Regardless of any label placed on the . mason for imprisionment, the suspect still will suffer the same negative efftfcts of prison that criminals experience. According to the New York Times, a suspect in federal custody will spend an average of 31 days in detention. Dur ing this time, people can lose their jobs and suffer other hardships diructly related to their imprisonment. Studies by William Roe for U.S. Senate hearings in 1981 show this economic hardship can effect the outcome of the trial. With jail overcrowding becoming an increasing pro blem. confining people who haven't been convicted of a crime is presumptuous. It assumes the defendant is guilty before the trial. This goes against the Hill of Rights, the 14th amendment and the presumption of innocence. In the decision the Court did not make provisions for in dividuals who had been detained but were later found inno cent. In these cases people have been punished for no reason. Chief justice Kenquist supported society’s l>est interests in the majority opinion, "....in times of war, when society's interest is at its peak, the Government may detain individuals whom the Government belives to be dangerous," he said. This is a very dangerous perception of the Govern ment’s Constitutional powers. The Court can say it is protec ting society with a regulatory measure, but it is actually destroying the principles ingrained in the Constitution. The Court has. in essence, said the government can imprison anyone it deems a threat. justiceThurgood Marshall voiced this fear in his dissen ting opinion. " Throughout the world today there art; men. women and children interned indefinately, ...because their governments believe them to be 'dangerous.' Our Constitu tion. .. . can shelter us forever against the dangers of such unchecked power," he said. He continued to say the Court’s decision is demolishing the powers of the Constitution. THE ISUP BARGE GETS NEW ORDERS: Letters Proud people May 17 is no! much to Ret ox cited about in the United States; however, in Norway the date marks the celebration of that na tion's independence. Few peo ple in Kugene knew that until un army of Norwegians march ed through campus that Sunday. The University community could have benefited from this cultural event a great deal. but the Norwegians chose to "economically segregate" their l>alriotic celebration. In order to finance an "Independence Day Brunch" and a private fete at Uuido's. the organizers demanded a $7.50 cover charge. Unfortunately, many students cannot cortiu up with that sum this late in the year, finding it better applied to overdue phone bills or a couple dozen cups of freshly brewed Boyd's coffee. Kven if you find the admis sion price reasonable, you've still got to wonder why the Uuido's party was off limits to the non-paying public. After all, if the Norwegians are proud ol their nation's sovereignty, which certainly appears to be Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Dally Emerald i» published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacation* by the Oregon Oally Emerald Publishing Co . at the University of Oregon. Eugene. Oregon, 97403 The Emerald operate* independently ol the University with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member ot the Associated Press The Emerald Is private property The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law Oenerai Stall Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Manager Assistant lo the Publisher Susan Thelen Michele Ross Alyson Simmons Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales: Peter LaFleur r Sales Manager Teresa Acosta Janelle Heitmann Catherine Lilia Rick Marti. Joseph Men/el. Joan Wildermuth Advertising Apprentices: Tert Boring. Heather Mull. Bar s. Julie Paul beta Rogers.. News and Editorial jlaplay Advertising and Business Classified Advertising letter Parted Graphics Production Circulation 8M-5S11 •••-3712 •M 4343 6M&S11 6M 4381 SMSStt Editor Managing Editor New* Editor Spectrum Editor Spectrum Assistant Editor Editorial Page Editor* Sports Editor Photo Editor Spectrum Photo Editor Graphic* Editor Night Editor Michelle Brence Lucinda Dillon Michael River* Stephen Maher Tim Chauran Michael Drummond Angela Muniz Dennis Fernandes Maria Corvallis John Giustlna Lorraine Rath Stanley Nelson Auocllti Editor* Community Politics Higher Education l Administration University Affair* Student Government Student Activities General Assignment General Assignment Janet Padlson BJ Thomsen Chris Norred Laurie Schwartz Carolyn Lamberaon Sarah Kitchen Alicia Gano Scott Maben Hot ben Jackie Barry. Mary Courtis, Gary Henley. Will Photographers: Shertyn Biorkgren. Shu Shing Chen. Der rel Hewitt. Tim Jones. Bobbie Lo. Dan Wheeler Production: Michele Ross l Ad Coordinator Supervisors: Sandra Bevans ShuShing Chen. Eliot Knight. Angela Muniz. Ingrid White Technicians: Kelly Alexandre. Ronwm Nicole Ashton. Virginia Bamaga. Samantha Barbuta. Sara Briscoe. Janet Emery, Judith Gatz. Lisa Haggerty. Linda Jones. Jung Lee, Donna Leslie Bobbie Lo. Kelli Mason. Mike McGraw Rob Miles. Diana Moy. Julie Paul. Serena Williams the case, whv did they find il necessary to lock the rest of us out of their celehraton? Perhaps too many mundane Americans would have lowered the high standard of "partying" that has been establised at Norwegian functions. If this is the way they plan to culturally diversify the Univer sity campus, they might as well take their parades back to Oslo. |ohn Tapogna loumalism Human hatred A Slid aspect of human behavior is the irrational hatred some people have toward others who am different in some way. It is sadder still when these people attempt to rationally justify their hatred since they may delude others as well as themselves. Recent letters to the editor about homosexuality exemplify this. Sharon Cuddie (ODE. April H| wrote that homosex uality was illegal in all 13 original states and suggested that wo were better off with the original laws. Did she forget that it was then legal to buy and sell black peo ple and illegal for women to vote? Brenda Robinson (ODE. May 13) wrote that homosexuality could not be determined by genes because traits which in terfere with reporduction must disappear from a species if the carriers can't reproduce. It is embarrassing that she is so poorly informed. Parents whose children are dying of cystic fibrosis, muscular dystyrophy. early onset diabetes, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia. Tay Sach's disease and beta thalassemia would not be im pressed by the argument that these recessive genetic diseases cannot exist. A natural law proposed by the Swiss scientist A. Guyot in "Earth and Man" (Gould and Lincoln. Boston. 1051. p. 254) humorously illustrates the dep ths to which masoning about fellow humans can sink: "Man presents in our view his purest, his most perfect type, at the very center of Asia Europe. . and departing from this geographical center. the types gradually lose the beauty of their forms, in propor tion to their distance, even to the extreme points of the southern continents, where we find the most deformed and degenerate races, and the lowest in the scale of humanity." So much for objectivity. Stephen J. Remington Molecular biology Clear point We would like to respond to a series of articles about the ASIJO Elections (Board) re counting process that ran in the DDK during the last two weeks. We fell that the articles im plied them was an adversarial relationship when in actuality there was not. The purpose of allowing the ODE to interview each of us was to bring attention to the in herent problems with the cur rent election process and the need for its reform. The intention was NOT to im ply that we were not safisfied with the results, as a headline stated. Rather, we were trying to draw attention to the process. During the interviews. Collin made this intention clear, but this was not brought out in any of the articles. Throughout this difficult pro cess. all those involved worked together in a mautre manner to resolve the situation, We hope that we have made our point clear and that the necessary changes will be made before next year's election. Collin Farrell 1987-88 IFC candidate Caitlin Cameron 1988-87 ASUO vice president
