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his privilege of protecting the public. Not
that the defendant is guilty as charged, but
there is the possibility that the offender
pending trial will commit other offenses
against public order.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: Despite the fact
that this issue was debated this morning, I
feel the questions may be very much con-
fused, partly because of the posture in
which the matter came before this Com-
mittee of the Whole. The Committee on
Personal Rights, on the other hand, had
many hours to discuss and hear witnesses,
concerning all the various aspects of what
is a very complex, but extremely constitu-
tional, problem.
Now, we have acted without any amend-
ment or question or debate to grant to an
accused all kinds of rights when he is tried
for the offense. He is entitled to counsel:
he is entitled to be confronted with his ac-
cusers; and we even put in a little amend-
ment yesterday to make sure they were
under oath when they confronted him.
This area, I say, is far more important
to the rights of the accused, because a large
number of accused, when they are tried for
the offense after having spent months in
jail waiting trial, the issue is a complete
nullity. The court ends up giving them time
served if they are guilty and if they are not
guilty they have been punished anyway.
This issue is far more important in our
modern-day context of criminal justice than
the old-fashioned and traditional rights
which, without dissent and by acclamation
we agreed to put in the constitution.
We do not need a right to counsel. The
system of justice will take care of that.
We do not need a public trial. I am sure
we will have public trials day in and day
out, whether or not the constitution calls
for them or not. We definitely need a princi-
ple in the constitution that entitles the pre-
sumption of innocence to have meaning and
which states that people cannot be punished
until and unless they have been found
guilty under the elaborate procedures which
we, without argument, state belong in the
constitution.
I would point out we have had experience
in the City of Baltimore, and I believe also
in Montgomery and Prince George's County,
with bail reform procedures and it has been
found beyond any doubt that people can be
released. Practically everyone who is jailed
pending trial could have been released had
this principle obtained in the practice and
in the administration of justice.
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THE CHAIRMAN : You have one-quarter
of a minute, Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: I would very
briefly like to answer Delegate Scanlan. I
do not know where he gets this picture
which he gave you of people opposing the
bail reform program in the District of
Columbia, because of the recidivism prob-
lem.
THE CHAIRMAN: Your time has ex-
pired. You may finish your sentence if you
want to.
DELEGATE BOTHE: I think I can put
it all in one sentence if my breath is up
to it.
THE CHAIRMAN: All right.
DELEGATE BOTHE: An investigation
which was made by the American Bar As-
sociation in an effort to make recommenda-
tions to the body of that organization on the
subject, was involved in a great deal of
debate on this question of preventive deten-
tion, and elected to recommend that there
be no preventive detention implicit in the
idea of bail. The reason that they did that
was because after the experiment in the
District of Columbia, there was so little
recidivism that they felt it unfair and un-
wise to place any restriction on the release
of people pending bail. I can show you all
the statistics, Delegate Scanlan, if you want
to see them, but the example you cite is
exactly the reason why preventive detention
has been rejected by some very prestigious
authorities.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you ready for
the question?
The Clerk will ring the quorum bell.
The question arises on the motion to re-
consider the vote by which Amendment No.
12 was adopted. A vote Aye is a vote in
favor of reconsideration...A vote No a vote
against.
If the motion is carried, Amendment No.
12 will be before you for further action. A
vote Aye is a vote for reconsideration; a
vote No, a vote against.
Cast your vote.
Has every delegate voted?
Does any delegate desire to change his
vote?
(There was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being 53 votes in the affirmative
and 70 in the negative, the motion is lost.
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