The Daily Express

Judge Reduces Crime In Miami Writer Claims

Crimes of violence in Miami's Negro areas have been reduced by half, and juvenile delinquency two thirds, since the appointment of a Negro to the Miami bench, says Albert Q. Maisel in the August Reader's Digest. In an article condensed from Christian Herald, Maisel tells the story of Lawson E. Thomas, the South's first Negro judge since reconstruction. Although Thomas is a regular judge, his court is restricted to arrests in the city's all-Negro area. About half the court's cases are for drunkenness. First time drunks get a warning. Repeated offenders are sentenced to four hours with an habitual drunkard who serves as a living example of the
dangers of drink. Judge Thomas is heavier handed in dealing with Negroes who carry pistols or switch-blade knives. Here, he observes, he has a unique advantage over the white courts. "If a white judge gave one of my people 30 days on a concealed-weapon charge, he'd think he was being persecuted. But when I do it he knows he's being punished." Today, thanks to Thomas' court, Miami policemen seldom find cutlery when they frisk brawlers.