Law Professors Propose Model Code

A proposed code for the treatment of suspects before their arraignment, drafted by three-Law School professors, in becoming the center of a major legal controversy.

The model code -- which includes strict guidelines for police questioning and the taking of confessions -- will be presented to the American Law Institute in May. It is being written by Paul M. Bator, Charles Fried and James K. Vorenberg '49, professors of Law, and Edward L. Barrett, dean of the University of California Law School.

The guidelines would give a defendent more protection than he has under present practices in any state. Their adoption by the Law Institute could be extremely influential in court decisions, an ALI spokesman said yesterday.

But there is already strong opposition to the code within the institute, led by Chief Judge David L. Bazelon of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. Bazelon argues that the proposed code does not go nearly far enough.

Under the code, a defendent, detained for questioning, would be warned of his constitutional right to remain silent if he has no lawyer. It would also limit the time that an individual may be questioned without a lawyer to four hours.

The questioning period would have to be tape recorded, and coercive practices on the part of the police would be prohibited. The defendent could not be kept from seeing his lawyer, but would be free to confess without council if he wished to do so.

According to Alan M Dershowitz, assistant professor at the Law School, who opposes the code, "It still weights the law to guarantee the constitutional right against self-incrimination only to the rich and the knowledgeable."

The average ignorant, criminal. Dershowitz said, does not know enough to keep silent when he is faced with persistent questioning by the police. The proposed code does any that within the four hour period, "persistent questioning" must cease if the accused wishes to see a lawyer, but Dershowitz pointed out that lawyers are not always available.

Dershowitz called for the establishment of a pool of state-employed lawyers to be on call at all police stations. This would insure, he said, that all defendents would have immediate access to counsel, regardless of ability to pay.

The code's supporters hope that it might lend to legislative action on pro-arraignment procedures -- either through state law - including such matters as search, seizure, arrest, questioning, bail, the right to detain, and confessions -- is now determined by individual court cases.