THE JURY IS STILL OUT

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 29, 1959

Children of our time- the eighteen boys, members of the Egyptian Dragons, who jumped and killed Michael Farmer, a policeman's son, a crime which was made to seem even more horrible in the press since Farmer was always identified as the ""polio boy"". Actually the disease had not left any residual after-effects. Judge Davidson sat on the General Sessions bench for the three months' trial in which seven of the boys- all but one from broken homes- were indicted for murder in the first degree. And this is an account of that trial- based on the testimony; of the handling of the case by the inflammatory prosecutor, Reynolds, who faced some twenty defense attorneys; of the code of silence which prevailed among the boys- and didn't break down even in court; of the threats to those called, and against the Judge himself; and finally of the verdict returned in which murder and man-slaughter in the second degree was brought against four of the seven boys.... If the crime itself was- and still is- a terrible thing, probably the social conditions which made it possible are still more horrifying- and in the question it raised, the problem posed, juvenile delinquency, ""the jury is still out""..... It is for those concerned with its handling that a documentation such as this is most valid.

Pub Date: April 29, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION