Abstract

S.30: 'The Seeds of Repression'

As dissension, repression and crime rates all increase, more people are becoming involved with the criminal law as sources of information, suspects or defendants. At the same time, hacking away at the rights of such people has become one of the U.S. Congress' favorite preoccupations. to grant vast electronic surveillance authority. In mid July, a Senate-House Conference Committee agreed on a District of Columbia Crime Bill which authorizes preventive detention, police entry in a home without warning, some very harsh sentences, and the requirement that a citizen suing a policeman for false arrest pay for the officer's lawyer even if the citizen wins. And pending before the House Judiciary Committee is S.30, the so-called "Organized Crime Control Act of 1969."