“Whether a statute making it an offense to be drunk in a public place can be constitutionally enforced against a defendant who is an alcoholic”
Extracts
“Frederick Hoy was convicted of being drunk or intoxicated in a public place, third offense. Upon a plea of guilty entered October 9, 1964, in circuit court he was sentenced to a term of 1-1/2 to 2 years in State's prison.”
“A
petition to vacate sentence, plea, and for a new trial was filed on
his behalf, and on January 22, 1965, a hearing was held on this
petition. The twofold thrust of this petition was that the defendant
"unknowingly believed that an attorney could not be of any
assistance to him," and that defendant has been subjected to
cruel and unusual punishment. Hoy had been represented by counsel
at an earlier stage of the proceedings.”
“Hoy
is a chronic alcoholic. Alcoholism is a disease. Imprisonment for
having a disease is cruel, unusual punishment, contrary to the Eighth
Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
“The
benevolent grape has been a problem for mankind since earliest times.
The practice of consuming alcoholic beverages and the effect of
overindulgence are matters of common knowledge. Society's interest in
these things is everywhere conceded. Society's efforts to prevent
drunkenness and avoid its harmful effects upon the body politic have
been numerous. Laws punishing those who become intoxicated and in
such condition endanger or disturb the peace of their fellow men
antedate our Constitution and form a continuous thread throughout our
history. It is undoubtedly true that more persons have been
convicted and punished for disorderly drunkenness than for any other
offense against society. In recent years, a new term has come
into general and common usage. The word is alcoholism. The phenomenon
of alcoholism is not new. But the word is new and expresses modern
society's view of the phenomenon.”
“There
is no question but that the medical opinion presented on behalf of
the defendant establishes that the sanction of criminal law has
some deterring effect on a sober alcoholic. “
“But
it is said that the law does not have any substantial deterring
effect on habitual drunkards. The argument of the "revolving
door" is that alcoholics are arrested, convicted, jailed, and
released time after time without being cured of their alcoholism.”
"THE
MEDICAL VIEW ON A.A.
"Since Dr. Silkworth's first endorsement of Alcoholics Anonymous, medical societies and physicians throughout the world have set their approval upon us. Following are excerpts from the comments of doctors present at the annual meeting of the medical society of the State of New York where a paper on A.A. was read:
"Dr.
Foster Kennedy, neurologist: `This organization of Alcoholics
Anonymous calls on two of the greatest reservoirs of power known to
man, religion and that instinct for association with one's fellows - the "herd instinct". I think our profession must take
appreciative cognizance of this great therapeutic weapon. If we do
not do so, we shall stand convicted of emotional sterility and of
having lost the faith that moves mountains, without which medicine
can do little.'
"Dr.
G. Kirby Collier, psychiatrist: `I have felt that A.A. is a group
unto themselves and their best results can be had under their own
guidance, as a result of their philosophy. Any therapeutic or
philosophic procedure which can prove a recovery rate of 50% to 60%
must merit our consideration.'
"Dr.
Harry M. Tiebout, psychiatrist: `As a psychiatrist, I have thought a
great deal about the relationship of my specialty to A.A. and I have
come to the conclusion that our particular function can very often
lie in preparing the way for the patient to accept any sort of
treatment or outside help. I now conceive the psychiatrist's job to
be the task of breaking down the patient's inner resistance so that
which is inside him will flower, as under the activity of the A.A.
program.'
"Dr.
W.W. Bauer, broadcasting under the auspices of the American Medical
Association in 1946, over the NBC network, said in part: `Alcoholics
Anonymous are no crusaders; not a temperance society. They know that
they must never drink. They help others with similar problems. In this atmosphere the alcoholic often overcomes his excessive
concentration upon himself. Learning to depend upon a higher power
and absorb himself in his work with other alcoholics, he remains
sober day by day. The days add up into weeks, the weeks into months
and years'.
"Dr.
John F. Stouffer, Chief Psychiatrist, Philadelphia General Hospital,
citing his experience with A.A., said: `The alcoholics we get here at
Philadelphia General are mostly those who cannot afford private
treatment, and A.A. is by far the greatest thing we have been able to
offer them. Even among those who occasionally land back in here
again, we observe a profound change in personality. You would hardly
recognize them'.
"The
American Psychiatric Association requested, in 1949, that a paper be
prepared by one of the older members of Alcoholics Anonymous to be
read at the Association's annual meeting of that year. This was done,
and the paper was printed in the American Journal of Psychiatry for
November, 1949." Alcoholics Anonymous, supra, pp
569-572.”
(our emphases)
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PS For AA Minority Report 2013 click here
