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ji Jess or _friendless. I think that Inf, }good exampie-si-the reverse side of that coin. If I hadiry been abge to litigate ‘this case myself, and hadn't been able to hire attorneys and private detectives to assist me, such as William Lind- tbart, wow Tw. have been in a hopeless position.” ~ “L chink (hat most people say the value of it is they think it’s a deterrent to people who might - be intending to cammit crimes that would be punish- able by death,-Do you think that this ever had any _ effect on you before your prison term began? Do you think that the fact that California had a capital pun- “ ishment law ever hdd any deterring effect-on any- thing you ever did?” . \dency of a person on my side of the fence, and I'm putting Jaside the question of guilt or innocence of any particular crime now, is to react with a sort of defiant attitude toward the possibility”of execution or the threat that if you keep on, you're going to end up in the gs chamber, that sort of thing I've developed in my first book. In subsequent. books also, I have elaborated on this, and I pete that rather than deterring, it has an opposite ef- rect.” ° “Do you think that most people in the criminal world would prefer life or capital punishment?” “Well, ate you referring to Jife imprisonment with- out possibility of parole?” “Thats’ right.” toe . “Well, Lcan only ailswer for myself, and/not for most people. I think that the question of course is merely an academic one, and is difficult or impossible for anyone to answer. Personally, no, I would not want to spend the rest of my life in prison. No, that’s why I am litigating this case as I am now, either trying to be ultimately vin- dicated, or of course, be executed. I'm not looking for any compromise whatever. For that reason, I’tan see no :future in spending my life behind bars.” j “Before me I have an article in a national maga- | gine written by you, referring to authorship in the ; death house, and in it, you refer to another man who | is condemned to death who wrote a book, and even- | tually walked eut of prison, and as you put it, ‘made a lasting contribution, to American literature.’ Now viewing that, and your comparison, I was just think- ing, is it possible that an attitude might be taken | from this, that a pergon of literary potential or intel- ! ectual ability ean be acquitted by supposed justice and be set apart from someone who does not have ! these inward potentials?” | “On the contrary, I think it should definitely not, but of course you have to realize there's a price tag in effect on just this, and I say that without being cynical, and of course if sorheone is more intellectually ‘%apable, the odds are in his ‘faver of surviving, the merits of the case aside merely because of his ability. But as far as just being opposed, or the view that should be taken, I would say certainly not. In fact I would feel that the person who might ‘be less capable mentally, or an ‘illiterate, or someone who is not qualified to protect himself, the law should be more’diligent in looking out for him.” “In view of your background and experience in prison and out, and your litigation procedures, would you feel that stricter faws enacted could curb the ris- ing crime, raté and juvenile delinquency? Should schools have more control, or be high class ‘baby-sit- ters’ or would you suggest that the home and the parents should take certain measures to keep their children out of trouble, or offending the code cs so- “Well, I think the opposite is true because the ten- : me 1 "E don’t whe that more Jaws will solve anzthins— wimethat At the laws at present are certainly adequa: enough to cope with the problem, except perhaps th: some special new circumstance may anit, | 14 That wou be an isolated thing. On the other hand, 7 Wank tat th effort to cope with a particular probies) Tine ww be det with on every level, and there has to be unquestionadl. in my mind, a unified effort to do it. I think that in tim they will all have to get together and decide what the ‘approach is going to be, and put it together as it wert rather than doing something of an isolated job.” “Well, to try to pin it down in reference to school and the kome, do you suggest that a stricter code be exercised by the teachers in the examining of home- work or extra-curricular activities, or should the par- ents assign certain curfew hours for their children and be responsible for them?” “Well, there is always a danger in that, put I wou. say that strictness alone is no solution to anything, bc cause you have of course youngsters who are in troub perhaps as a result of too much strictness. On the oth: hand, you have teenagers in trouble as a result of def ciency in strictness. So I think that the thing that I show emphasize is that this approach has to be-on an inc vidual basis, and has to be met on that level, rather ths generally.” “How much responsibility, if any, should a parent have for the misbehavior of his youngsters?” “Well, are you talking about morally, legally, ‘ $2” “Well, let's try legally.” “Of course there are certain applicable Jaws ni {which put a certain Jimited responsibility in this respe ! to certain offenses; however, I don’t believe that the pa ent can be said to be responsible legally. If a teenag ‘seems to be maturing much more rapidly, the parent h considerably a greater problem making a living for tl { most part, I don't think that we should make the pare ;more responsible legally, because I don’t think we wou ‘be contributing anything ultimately to solving the pro i lem.” . { “Pye met people that I would say have rather, hifh, intelligence, and some of these same people have got- ten into trouble with the law, in prison and out, “some have been on the verge of this same difficulty, and yet they have terrific mental ability, I would as- sume, in school and ‘out. Some of them who, have been in trouble have teen able to rehabilitate themselves through their own. initiative and with outside help And yet, these potentially loaded people will some day erupt while someone is peacefully walking the streets; and yet they have the intellectual or intelligence abil- ity to reason, and to stop these things. How can you cope with something like that?” ‘ei vhat.would be your goal?, merely socialeunur.