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19 Panel 1 (1941)

handle is hein.journals/panelmbu19 and id is 1 raw text is: To increase the effectiveness of the Grand jury System HE ANEL A Publication Devoted to the Exchange of Views of Public Oficials and Citizens in the Efort to Prevent Crime and Secure the True Administration of Justice PUBLISHED BY THE GRAND JURY ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK COUNTY, Inc. Contributions and letters in The Panel are either credited to their authors or signed with the names or initials of their writers and the Association assumes no responsibility for the opinions contained therein beyond expressing the view that the subjects they treat of are worthy of the attention of Grand Jurors. VOL. 19 MAY, 1941 NO. I Association's Bills Signed By Lehman Grand Jurors Will Be Fingerprinted, May Impound Minutes By THURSTON GREENE of Greene & Greene, Counsel to the Association The Grand Jury Association may justly be proud of its accom- plishments in the 1941 session of the State Legislature. Gratitude is due to Senator Feinberg of Platts- burg and Assemblyman Reoux of Warrensburg for their sponsorship of the Association's measures. The most important of the bills introduced by the Association was one to require each applicant for grand jury service to be finger- printed before his name may be placed on the list. Approved by Governor Lehman on April 25, this law (which amends §595 of the Judiciary Law and 267aa of the Code of Criminal Procedure) is effective from May 1, 1941 and becomes Chapter 722 of the Laws of 1941. After that date, no per- son's name may be placed on the grand jury list in New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, or Richmond coun- ties unless his or her fingerprints are taken and cleared through the Central Bureau of Criminal Iden- tification of the Department of Correction at Albany. This De- partment has long served as the clearing house for all fingerprint records in the State. Local law en- forcement officials are required to take fingerprints in duplicate and forward one set to the Central Bureau. It is because of the State- wide coverage assured by such a system that it seemed wise to have the fingerprints cleared through the (Continued on page 2) Appreciation La -.7. vi . -. -s ,Uua From the Mayor I Mayor La Guardia, at one of the winter's U luncheon meetings, after expressing thanks and appreciation on his part and on behalf of the city to members of the Grand Jury Association of New York County for their continued contributions to the best interests of the City of New York. said: We all are concerned with the enforce- ment of law, and one of the institutions which we inherited from the English system N of jurisprudence was that of the Grand Jury. - In this State we've maintained it with ve slight modifications of its original intent an purpose. In some States of the union, how- N ever, the purposes and functions of grand juries have been greatly limited, and in some jurisdictions charges are filed by information rather than indictments from a grand jury. You gentlemen are a powerful organization -an organization that has the respect and U confidence of the People of this city and you ran do a great deal to help us int these deffi ' crds times in sotuing these difficut problems. ' ll l l l l l l i l a l l l l l t l l i l l l General Sessions Judges Vote Jury Pool System At a meeting of the New Criminal Courts Building Committee, the judges of the Court of General Sessions decided unanimously that they are in favor of establishing a Jury Pooling Room, according to a letter received, just as we were going to press, from Judge John J. Freschi. The new building is expected to be ready for occupancy in July. In September 1928, Charles Larned Robinson, vice president of the Grand Jury Association of New York County, and chairman of the Citizens Jury Committee, first suggested the adoption of the Jury Pool- ing System in New York County. A meeting of representatives of 34 civic organizations was held under the auspices of this Association and the Rotary Club and through the ceaseless efforts of the Citizens Jury Committee, the Jury Pooling System was adopted for the Supreme Court in New York County in May 1929; for the Municipal Court of Man- hattan on June 3, 1929; for the City Court of Manhattan in March 1930. The system was adopted solely on the initiative of laymen, although it received the active support of Presiding Justice Victor J. Dowling of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Department, since deceased; former Supreme Court Justice Richard P. Lydon and many of the more progressive members of the Bar. (Continued on page 12) As we were going to press, after having waited for the Gover- nor's signature to bills which we had sponsored, District Attorney Dewey, at our Association luncheon on May 1, delivered an ad- dress so pertinent, timely and inspiring that we decided to print a larger issue in order to include it. See page 3.-Ed. Martin Lauds Grand Jury Standards Says Association Aided in Pointing the Way To Fulfilling Duties We present below, for its timeli- ness and scope, the address Judge Martin delivered at the luncheon meeting of the Grand Jury Asso- ciation of New York County at the Hotel Commodore on Feb. 25, 1941. By HON. FRANCIS MARTIN Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, First Department. On January 1st, 1935, I became Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Supreme Court, First De- partment. By virtue of that appoint- ment I became the Chairman of the County Jury Board in New York and Bronx Counties. Despite the great increase in my duties, I determined to devote as much of my time as was necessary, to insure an improvement in the Grand Jury personnel. My experience as a District At- torney and as a Justice of the Su- preme Court in the trial of criminal cases convinced me that a Grand Jury, which properly and faithfully exercises the broad powers possess- ed by it, is the greatest single fac- tor in any community for the sup- pression of crime and the preserva- tion of law and order. During my career as District Attorney the grand jurors in Bronx County fully cooperated with me in an effort to stamp out crime and prosecute criminals. They were anxious, at all times, to improve local condi- tions. In later years, when selected by the Justices of the Appellate Div- ision as a member of the Board for Selection of Grand Jurors in Bronx County, I constantly endeavored to (Continued on page 7)

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