Discredited Charges Should Not Be Repeated

The Crimson apparently believes that plagiarism is so serious a charge that even absolute innocence is not a defense (News, “Prof Admits to Misusing Source,” Sept. 27). It continues to mention the phony plagiarism charges leveled against me by an anti-Israel zealot.

Even my biased accuser acknowledged that there was not a single phrase, sentence or idea in my book that came from someone else without being quoted and cited. His gripe was that in a handful of instances I cited the quotations to their original sources rather than to the secondary source he falsely claims I found them all in. That is why Professor James Freedman, the former President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of Dartmouth and the University of Iowa, came to the following conclusion:

“I do not understand [Finkelstein’s] charge of plagiarism against Alan Dershowitz. There is no claim that Dershowitz used the words of other without attribution. When he uses the words of others, he quotes them properly and generally cites them to the original sources (Mark Twain, Palestine Royal Commission, etc.) [Finkelstein’s] complaint is that instead he should have cited them to the secondary source, in which Dershowitz may have come upon them. But as the Chicago Manual of Style emphasizes:

‘Importance of attribution. With all reuse of others’ materials, it is important to identify the original as the source. This not only bolsters the claims of fair use, it also helps avoid any accusation of plagiarism.’

This is precisely what Dershowitz did. Moreover, many of the sources quoted both by Dershowitz and Peters are commonly quoted in discussions of this period of Palestinian history. Nor can it be said that Dershowitz used Peters’ ideas without attribution. He cites Peters seven times in the early chapter of his book, while making clear that he does not necessarily accept her conclusions. This is simply not plagiarism, under any reasonable definition of that word.”

(Note: I actually cited Peters eight times.)

Recycling old discredited charges of plagiarism only encourages politically motivated people to level these charges, because they understand—as Senator Joseph McCarthy did—that once made, certain charges stick even when they have absolutely no basis in fact.

ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ

September 27

The writer is Frankfurter professor of law at Harvard Law School.