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New Crime Bill Threatens Constitution

New Crime Bill Threatens Constitution image
Parent Issue
Day
11
Month
April
Year
1975
OCR Text

    Senate Bill No.1, a revised form of the "Nixon Crime Bill" which was drafted under Attorneys General Mitchell and Kleindienst, was introduced in the Senate January 1 5 and is currently scheduled for several days of minimal hearings at the end of April. The bill would drastically change the federal criminal code, threatening free speech, press and assembly.

    "It is blatantly repressive," charged Esther Herst, spokeswoman for the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCARL), which is campaigning against the Senate bill along with its sister bill in the House, HR 333.

    "It was obviously drafted by a Justice Department and certain individuals who have a mind set against freedom of expression,"

 Herst continued.

   Called the "Criminal Justice Reform Act of 1975," its professed purpose is to replace unwritten criminal law customs with written statutes. "Under the guise of codification, Nixon managed to throw in all sorts of new laws," Herst explained, citing the release of classified documents as an example. Because of Ellsberg, and the leaks that led to Watergate, Nixon planned to make the release of classified documents a criminal offense.

   Other dangerous features of the bill outlined by NCARL include the following:

DEATH PENALTY S.1 revives the death penalty, making executions mandatory for certain crimes.

SMITH ACT S.1 revives McCarthy era witch hunt laws that the Supreme Court held unconstitutional in 1957. Provides 15 years and/or a $100,000 fine for the mere advocacy or membership in (or inciting" same) an organization that allegedly calls for revolutionary changes "as speedily as circumstances permit...at some future time."

LEADING A RIOT S.1 provides for a three-year sentence and/or $100,000 fine for the "movement of a person across a state" line, or for the use of the mails or telephone "in the course of the planning, promotion" of a "riot." A "riot" is defined as "an assemblage of five" which "creates a grave danger" to "property."

WIRETAPPING S.1 permits the President to wiretap domestic activities which he thinks are a "danger to the structure" of government. Expands the Attorney General's authority to wiretap alleged offenses related to First Amendment protected actions, and permits 48-hour "emergency taps without approval." In addition, it forces telephone workers and landlords are to cooperate "forthwith" and "unobstructively" with government wiretappers.

DEMONSTRATIONS S.1 threatens with severe penalties virtually every kind of civil rights, peace and other protest actions under a series of vaguely drafted infringements on the right of assembly, including severe restrictions on the right of demonstration adjacent to wherever authorities may declare to be the "temporary residence" of the President.

SECRECY S.1 provides a three year and/or $100,000 fine for a federal employee who "communicates...classified information" to an unauthorized recipient, even if data "was not lawfully subject to classification at the time..."

   The bill also institutionalizes and gives legislative sanction to the executive classification system of documents; conflicts with the Freedom of Information Act; and provides a seven year sentence and/or $100,000 fine for a person who received "National Defense Information" and "fails to deliver it promptly" back.

SABOTAGE S.1 provides the death penalty or life imprisonment in some cases, 20-30 years and/or $100,000 fine in others, for activity that "damages, tampers with..." almost any property, facility, or service that is or might be used in the national defense, with intent to "interfere with or obstruct the ability of the U. S. or an associate nation [e.g. South Vietnam] to prepare for or engage in war or defense activities."

CONTEMPT S.1 increases the penalty for refusal to cooperate with Congressional committees to three years and/or a $I00.00 fine.

OBSCENITY S.1 makes a criminal of all persons who in any way disseminate material describing sexual intercourse or depicting nudity.

   In addition, Bill S.1 rejects national control of hand guns, allows an officer to use "deadly force" to prevent the escape of a person arrested for an allegedly dangerous crime, without regard to the danger to the lives of others; fails to punish economic measure taken against people exercising their civil rights; makes the use or possession of marijuana a criminal offense.