The last photograph of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, whose books made him one of the most controversial figures of our time.

Shortly

hortly before he died, Dr. Alfred Kinsey had din-. with me in my New York apartment. Kinsey-whose scientific studies of, sex probably are the most widelyand heatedly-discussed books of our time—arrived tired, discouraged and, I suspect, ill. (He had already suffered one heart attack and it was rumored that he'd had two.)

He told me about his plans for the future and the financial plight of his Institute for Sex Research, the group which has conducted during the past 15 years an enormous amount of exploration of human sexual behavior. And he asked my advice as to how he could earn extra money to help towards the continuation of the Institute's research. which involves a list of 19 more studies he hoped to publish during the forthcoming_years.”"

Knowing that Kinsey personally never accepted a penny beyond the professor's modest salary he and his wife, Clara, lived on, and that he had supplied valuable material, without charge, to many editors and writers, including myself, I said, "Stop giving it away; sell it."

He finally agreed to write his first signed popular article for The American Weekly. It was to be on the subject I think was closest to his heart— the diversity and inconsistency of our American sex-laws. For the extensive study he and his associates had made of sex crimes and sexcriminal had brought him to the sad conclusion that the laws and punishments covering such offenses were and are inadequate.

The article, we agreed, would emphasize that there are 49 sets of sex laws-one for each of the states and one for the union. “For example,” he said, “in New York State a man can receive a jail sentence of up to 30 days for the crime of indecent exposure. That same crime in California may earn. him a jail sentence of up to life and, under certain circumstances, he might be condemned to death!"

He also pointed out that an arrest for indecent exposure may result from harmless intent, as in the case of a man who, on a hot day, in a secluded area, takes off his clothes to go for a swim.

D

r. Kinsey was particularly disturbed about our laws covering juvenile delinquency. He believed that houses of correction for under-age offenders are the chief breeding grounds of inmates of our `adult prisons. In fact, he said, about 80 per cent of our adult sex offenders are graduated from the ranks of juvenile offenders.

Kinsey's findings also show that prolonged prison confinement for a younger male, when his virility is at its peak, is much more injurious than a similar period of confinement for an older man.

Nor, he asserted, is the delinquency problem solved by releasing juveniles on lengthy parole: for the terms of the parole are—in most states— nearly as strict in regard to sexual activities as the rules of the institutions. Many a boy has been paroled to a couple of well-meaning citizens who have no understanding of teen-agers and who sincerely believe they should be prevented from making any social contact with the opposite sex.

Dr. Kinsey stressed the ugly fact that, once convicted, many youthful offenders are penalized by being sent to institutions where many of the con-

A woman writer who knew the late Dr. Kinsey reveals

his carefully developed

plans to attack

OUR

IMPOSSIBLE SEX LAWS

By NANETTE KUTNER

victs are indulging in homosexual activity.

Such punishment is no cure. Indeed, once an individual is lured into the nightmare world of homosexuality, he is subject in some states, to life imprisonment. And the Kinsey data establishes that severe prisón penalties for homosexuality often develop a breed of lawbreakers adept at blackmail, assault and even murder.

Dr. Kinsey felt that we, as a nation, should stop confusing sin with crime. An act which may not ·be against the immutable moral law may be illegal in a certain area because a man-made law has been passed to make it taboo. He spoke of juvenile petting, which in itself might be innocent, but which is interpreted by some courts as an impairment of the morals of a minor. The "petter" thus may be prosecuted as a juvenile delinquent, but few youths, “sparking" with their best girls, are aware that any legal question is involved.

Kinsey's histories include records of law enforcement officers blackmailing an apprehended

"spooner," who was anxious to avoid arrest. When the teen-ager cried that he didn't know that what he was doing was illegal, he got the hard-boiled answer: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

"And when is a minor not a minor?” demanded Kinsey. The age at which an individual legally ceases to be a juvenile varies according to where he lives. It is set at 18 in some 23 of our states, but in other states it ranges from 14 to 21. In the majority of states it is possible for judges to hold a young delinquent in a juvenile institution, and it was Dr. Kinsey's opinion that these places usually are more severely administered than the average tough prisons for adults.

Dr. Kinsey knew his prisons. On and off, during the past 18 years, he had talked intimately with hundreds of convicts. Because his mild, earnest manner convinced them of his trustworthiness, they confided in him.

Their histories proved-to his way of thinking— that sex criminals as a class (Continued on page 14)