THIRD DEGREE METHODS

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1931, Page 3

THIRD DEGREE METHODS

PRACTICES IX AMERICA. VIGOROUS DEXOUNCEM EXT. The Wic.kersham Grime Study Commission struck its second blow at the American police system on August 10. when it issued a report in Washington vigorously denouncing the use of third degree methods. "The commission demands that public opinion outlaw the system,” says the report. In as strong language as it used a week previously in attacking the alleged "unholy alliance” between the police, politicians, and gangsters, the commission a.ssa ls the use of “physical and mental torture” on accused persons and witnesses.

The third degree ns used by American police is “shocking in its character and extent,” states the report. “It violates American traditions and institutions." .Revealing the “naked, ugly facts of this brutal, lawless practice,” the report cites numerous eases of physical brutality and mental cruelty. Most common of the police practices mentioned was the questioning of suspects over periods running sometimes to a whole week. This is usually accomplished bv relays of detectives, each of whom questions the victim in turn, so that the accused man, bewildered by the incessant inquisTion, and often sleepless, hungry, and thirsty, breaks down.

Prolonged questioning, however, is not the only nor the worst of the third degree methods alleged to be used by American police. Many an accused criin:nal. in the safety of a court-room, has repudiated a “confession,’’ declaring that it was forced from him by the third degree, and often the defendant could exhibit bruises and scars. Some months ago in New York policemen confessed that when witnesses would not "come through,” the police n-iri .tv) -vAf a I'Hle rough with them.” this “roughness,” it was revealed, cons sted of a thorough “beating up" of the victim. "The. commission crammed into a single volume one hundred proved cases of confession," says a newspaper report. Instances are given of extorting confessions by means of prolonged sleeplessness, beating with rubber hoses, sandbags, and fists. The report also gives details of the questioning of suspects over the corpse of the victim, and cramming men into cells containing people suffering from diseases. Other methods described by the com-

mission are administering the ‘ watei ■ ” vh'ch consists of strapping down the victim and pouring large quantities of water down his thro"t until he confesses, and handcuffing men ups'de down wlrle spraying them with tear gas. The report cites the case of Leopold and Loeb, the two young students who planned the “perfect crime,” in which an innocent school teacher was beaten in order to secure a confession. r lhe commission requests President Hoover to secure the passage ot legislation to : hnlish this conduct,