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
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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