Book Reviews : The Rationing of Justice: Constitutional Rights and the Criminal Process. By ARNOLD S. TREBACH. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1964. Pp. xii, 350. $10.00.)
| Author | S. Sidney Ulmer |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296401700468 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
860
Despite
the
unevenness
of
the
book,
its
casual
style,
and
its
failure
to
develop
the
counterinsurgency
theme,
Professor
Taylor
has
given
us
a
thoughtful
and
pro-
vocative
study
of
Philippine-American
relations.
His
preface
promises
to
use
&dquo;the
point
of
view
of
the
United
States,&dquo;
but
the
value
of
the
book
lies
in
those
parts
that
enlighten
us
about
the
viewpoint
of
the
Filipinos.
We
need
to
know
far
more
about
how
our
Asian
allies
view
us
and
the
world.
DOUGLAS
H.
MENDEL,
JR.
University
of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The
Rationing
of
Justice:
Constitutional
Rights
and
the
Criminal
Process.
By
ARNOLD
S.
TREBACH.
(New
Brunswick:
Rutgers
University
Press,
1964.
Pp.
xii,
350.
$10.00.)
Arnold
Trebach’s
The
Rationing
of
Justice
is
a
book
which
reflects
the
author’s
sincere
concern
for
those
who
find
themselves
enmeshed
in
the
criminal
process.
This
is
an
appropriate
concern
for
one
who
is
administrator
of
the
National
Legal
Aid
and
Defender
Association’s
Defender
Project.
But
the
weaknesses
of
the
criminal
process
in
the
United
States
will
also
interest
those
who,
though
not
injured,
can
&dquo;feel
as
indignant
as
those
who
are.&dquo;
The
criminal
process
commences
when
a
policeman
takes
action;
it
ends
when
a
final
punishment
is
carried
out.
That
it
may
oppress
the
innocent
has
previously
been
documented
in
books
by
Edwin
Borchard
and
Jerome
Frank
who
give
100
examples
of
cases
in
which
the
innocent
were
convicted.
Trebach,
however,
points
to
many
other
methods
by
which
injustice
works
its
way.
Violations
of
individual
rights
are
discussed
under
such
headings
as
&dquo;Arrest
and
Detention,&dquo;
&dquo;Police
Violence
and
Coercion,&dquo;
the
&dquo;Preliminary
Examination,&dquo;
the
&dquo;Cop
Out,&dquo;
the
&dquo;Indigent
Defendant
and
the
Law,&dquo;
and
&dquo;Trial
and
Sentence.&dquo;
In
cataloging
the
ways
in
which
relatively
defenseless
human
beings
can
be
abused,
Trebach
emphasizes
that
the
violation
of
individual
rights
is
the
exception
rather
than
the
rule;
that
violations
can
occur
by
subtle
as
well
as
direct
means;
and
that
many
different
variables
affect
the
extent
to
which
oppressive
forces
operate.
The
weakness
of
the
criminal
defendant
is
traced
to
the
nature
of
the
clientele,
i.e.,
the
&dquo;socially
powerless,&dquo;
who
are
&dquo;not
sophisticated
or
powerful
enough
to
bring
a
complaint
to
the
proper
authorities
and
to
fight it
through
successfully.&dquo;
The
remedy,
Trebach
argues,
lies
not
in
the
appellate
process
by
which
the
Supreme
Court
has
attracted
some
attention
to
the
abuses
occurring
in
the
criminal
process,
but
in
defender
institutions.
The
appellate
proceeding
may,
the
author
suggests,
be
the
worst
way
to
vindicate
a
person’s
rights.
For
reversal
of
a
conviction
does
not
erase
the
record.
A
voided
but
unerased
conviction
may
induce
a
jury
in
a
later
case
to
return
a
guilty
verdict
if
a
clever
attorney
can
bring
it
to
the
jury’s
attention.
Moreover,
for
various
reasons,
many
cases
cannot
or
will
not
be
appealed.
A
prime
cause
here
is
that
most
criminal
defendants
are
indigent
or
near-indigent.
The
United
States
Supreme
Court
has
recently
required
state
and
federal
courts
to
fur-
nish
counsel
and
transcripts
to
indigent
defendants.
But
the
important
question
is
the
behavior
of
the
counsel
once
assigned.
In
systems
where
remuneration
of
counsel
is
nominal
or
nonexistent,
various
pressure
may
combine
to
discourage
counsel
from
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