To Close Sex Law Loopholes, The Evening Star (Article, 1950)
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To Close Sex Law Loopholes
Some glaring loopholes in local sex offense laws would be closed if Congress adopted the recommendations of a subcommittee of the Senate Expenditures Committee. One important effect of legislation proposed by the investigating group would be to end the unrealistic practice of charging some sex offenders with disorderly conduct. This system puts a lot of sex psychopaths beyond the purview of the District's Miller Act, which was intended to afford psychiatric treatment to habitual offenders.
The subcommittee, in inquiring into charges of homosexuality in Federal agencies, found that under present laws homosexuals and other perverts usually are turned loose after paying a $25 fine for "disorderly conduct." Although some of them may have dangerous potentialities, they are turned free to circulate as before and to repeat their offenses or to commit more serious crimes. Some might be helped by proper psychiatric treatment, but they are not eligible for commitment to St. Elizabeths under the sex psychopath law.
To remedy this situation the subcommittee drafted a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code which would make it unlawful to commit any lewd, obscene or indecent act in the District under penalty of a $500 fine or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both. This language would cover acts of perversion which now are booked only as "disorderly conduct." The stricter law was [endorsed] by all local law enforcement agencies, the group said. The subcommittee also suggested strengthening of the immoral solicitation law and an increase in the penalties for disorderly conduct. And it severely criticized the "head-in-the-sand" attitude toward homosexuals which it found to exist in some Federal departments. Particularly amazing was the disclosure that 23 of 91 State Department [employees] dismissed for homosexuality found jobs in other Government offices.
The subcommittee made the sensible additional suggestion that all sex cases, including those which would be placed on the books under the new laws, would be prosecuted by one office, that of the United States Attorney. It was pointed out that this official now has supervision of Miller Act prosecutions. The subcommittee presumably wants the psychopath law to apply to offenders brought in under the proposed indecency amendment, but the fact apparently was overlooked that a change in the Miller Act will be required to make it applicable. The law now is restricted to certain sex crimes. The new offense should be added to the list.
