MATTACHINE SOCIETY

On Changing Sex Laws

It's timo fœ a change. This statement is not to be construed as a political slogan during this election year, but rather in relation to our outmoded sex laws, It is the general conclusion of the speakers at the 7th annual convention of the Mattachine Society held at the Bellovue Hotel in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend.

Featured speaker for the morning session was Joseph R. Silver, Executive Director for the Northern California Service Leaguo. The League's work consists of helping in the over-all rehabilitation of criminals, both during their incarceration and afterward.

Mr. Silver explained his organization's belief that arrest has many related effects. Rejection on the part of the community is one of the first. Another is the destruction of self-esteem and -confidence, which stems from the assumption of guilt when one is arrested. A third concomitant is that one who has been arrested often loses his job and/or has subsequent difficulties in securing and keeping employment. The Northern California Service League concerns itself with solving such problems as these for the violator of the law and for the parolee.

JAIL IS 'BREEDING-PLACE' FOR CRIME

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An emphatic part of Mr. Silver's talk was his statement that jail is "a breeding-place for crime." Jail prison deprives the violator of normal outlets in that there ho has little or no chance to make decisions or to do serious thinking. He therefore can not grow as a person during that period. The difficulty is getting people to see clearly all the effects of arrest was well brought out by Karl Menninger's remark to the effect that it is hard for a free fish to understand a hooked one.

"The Northern California Service League," Mr. Silver stated, "is dedicated to the principle that people are

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