"MENACES TO SOCIETY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

"MENACES TO SOCIETY."

A WAVE of indignation, mingled with disgust, is sweeping through America, following the publication of statistics dealing with sex murders, particularly* in their relation to child victims.

So great is the outcry that a campaign lias been started in New "iork to establish a public fund for the building of institutions where morol degenerates can receive proper treatment.

The statistics show that an army of degenerates infests the bigger cities of America, and national anger reached a climax when it was discovered that eight-year-old Paula Magno, of Brooklyn, the city of homes and churches, had been lured into the cellar of her parents' house and there strangled after being assaulted.

Ifer unclothed body was found on a dusty perambulator with a 10ft length of sash cord wrapped four times round her throat.

The scene of this tragedy is less than 100 yards from the area where Brooklyn's previous child murder occurred — the bludgeoning of nine-year-old Ethel Sporer, who was killed by a barber, Salvatore Ossido. a sex maniac, now under sentence of death. Paula left home in the early morning to play with schoolgirl friends, wearing a sunsuit and black shoes. Three hours later Mrs. Meld, a lodger of the Magnas, went to the cellar to deposit rubbish and saw the child's body, face down, on the babv carriage. Medical examination showed that death was due to strangulation, and that the child had been fiendishly assaulted. Nearby was a wrapper, containing sweets, which had been opened. The wrapper was identified as one similar to a prize packet of sweets sold in a neighbouring shop. Clue on Fish Bowl. The parents were in a state of collapse when they went to tile police, taking with them an empty fish bowl found under their child's bod v.

Finger-prints found on the fish bowl mnv furnish a valuable clue to the identity of the assassin. The thicklypopulated section of Brooklyn, New York's great industrial and residential suburb, in which the murder occurred, has produced more sex 'crimes than any other part of the city in recent years, and for this reason, perhaps, practically the entire police force has been turned loose to hunt for little Paula's murderer. ithyi 24 hours the police rounded up more than 200 men known to them to have been fruilty of moral lapses, but all were discharged after examination.

AMERICA'S ARMY OF DEGENERATES. NATION HORRIFIED BY STATISTICS OF SEX SLAYINGS— WAVE OF DISGUST SWEEPS THROUGH STATES-— -Gunn MURDERS SHOCK THE PUBLIC.

Scores of them had been convicts ♦ enticement and assault nnrm ~ 0r children, had then served *aol bati? 0 "" 8 and been liberated. ° en tences

third' ber «*

Vow of Vengeance. Paula's funeral, was the a tremendous demonstration * pathy, followed b v a mass which demanded stricter laws fa, "? degenerates. c Hb First there was a Requiem M»«. the Cathedral, after which the white cofliri was carried to the the shoulders of the child's scholia,^ 1 The entire route w;is lined with ium" girls, belonging to Roman Catholic gS and societies, dressed in white.

At the graveside the child's moth» overcome by grief, became Mr. Magna the father, and tT££ sons, jiubhcly vowed vengeaace on ttf murderer. 108

"ft ithin the boundaries of the cemetw* named "The Gate of Heaven," arrests were made, but suspects after, severe grilling at police headquarter, were released by nightfall. %

View of Jurists. As to stricter laws, American jnriit. and physicians are emphasising that Courts to-day cannot do otherwise thia sentence sex offenders to prison, whers they receive no cure or treatment tm their moral aberrations.

When their sentences expire they an free to roam the streets as a constat menace to the safety of children.

In New York State, it is, urged, the need for special institutions lor the care of degenerates is most urgent, and tie establishing of such buildings will depend upon a referendum on a State bond issue coming up for the Toten'" approval in November.

The issue is for £5.000.000 for pnllfc pin poses, and a campaign ha« been started to secure two or three milliom for the construction of modern sanatoria, where sex criminals may be cured, or at least kept for a time after prison gentences have expired.

It is felt that there is a growing need for such institutions, where all known sex offenders, such as th e police have recently been rounding up, can'be kept. The present system, it is pointed out, is very much like locking the stable door after the horse has been stolen.

In most American States the la* no* permits anyone who feels himself a menace to society to request commitment and treatment, including sterilisation, but to date very few have availed themselves of the opportunity.