George Ross Pou is ready for a fight for a reform in North Carolina that might prove of great benefit.
Mr. Pou, superintendent of the State Prison, says he wants the General Assembly of the State to pass a bill providing for a mental examination before trial of all persons indicted on capital offenses.
Mr. Pou’s plan, suggests The Asheville Times, would being about a needed reform. It would put a stop to the complications of having men convicted and later declared insane; it would end the expense and trouble of further investigations. Furthermore, a preliminary examination of the mentality of men under indictment would forever stop the possibility of securing clemency for men on insanity that is really doubtful and made possible only through the work of clever lawyers.
“In England this system has long been in use. In Massachusetts the same procedure prevails. The convicted man is first sent before a skilled board of alienists [psychiatrists]. Their verdict on the man’s mental capacity prevails in the court. Of course, it would be absolutely necessary that only the finest alienists be employed. Their decisions would be of great importance and should represent the utmost man’s progress in abnormal psychology. Of course, no one can draw a line between individuals, saying that all on one side are mentally sound and all on the other insane. Such is the difficulty that only experts should make the attempt.”
Editor's Note: The legislature disagreed, and this reform was never put into place.
From the editorial page of the Concord Daily Tribune, July 5, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-07-05/ed-1/seq-4/
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