Psychologist, Law Professor Back Moratorium for Capital Punishment

A psychologist and a law professor yesterday attacked Massachusetts Attorney General George Fingold for his support of the death penalty.

Fingold stated that he was "unalterably opposed" to abolition of capital punishment and that the state's nine district attorneys felt the same way. "It is my duty to protect the public from any relaxation of our criminal code," Fingold added.

The district attorneys also backed Fingold's opposition to a bill providing for a five year moratorium on the penalty, which will come up before the House Monday.

Sheldon Glueck, Roscoe Pound Professor of Law, said he "sees no harm in a five year trial period." (In the last seven years the death penalty has never been carried out.) "Almost invariably states without capital punishment have lower rates of murder," he said, "but there are thousands of variable factors that cause a person to commit murder."

"The states that have abolished the penalty are definitely no less secure than the others," he declared.

William M. McCord, instructor in Social Psychology, said "The death penalty serves no useful purpose except as a revenge for society." The teacher of "Problems in Criminology" thought the question of capital punishment largely moral and one that every person must solve for himself. "It certainly does not serve as a deterrent," he added.