University of Virginia Library

Tom Doran

We direct your attention to the phrase in
six-point type at the top of this column. It is
more than a journalist's cliche, or another
dreary pearl from Mr. Jefferson — it embodies
a principle of toleration and reason under rule
by law that is the most revolutionary and
valuable contribution of American culture.

When the United States government, at
any level, arbitrarily or capriciously uses its
force against an individual for reasons inspired
by cultural or philosophical "error" then we
witness a shameful prostitution of the central
ideals of our democracy. The greater, or more
bizarre, or more obnoxious the "error," the
more imperative the need for disinterested
and judicious treatment.

As of today Tom Doran, who has upset
people (including ourselves) by insisting that
there is no justice in America, will have been
in the local jail for four weeks. His parents
have not been permitted to visit him, his
letters are censored, and he shares, with his
fellow inmates, the not-inconsiderable anguish
of prolonged subsistence in an underfinanced,
small-town prison system that is a relic of the
Civil War. Mr. Doran hasn't been convicted
of anything lately. His month in jail is due to
inability to raise $5,000 bail on an indictment
for perjury stemming from his last
confrontation with the Charlottesville
authorities.

We were under the impression that bail; in
the American judicial system, is designed to
guarantee the return, not the unjustified
incarceration, of an accused man before his
trial. In the context of the Court's persistent
refusal, in these four weeks, to permit Mr.
Doran's supporters to obtain the services of
an out-of-town bondsman, our credulity
regarding judicial disinterest in this situation
is severely strained.

Most of us have never had to serve four
weeks in prison, even in a decent prison, upon
conviction for some offense. The thought of
enduring such an experience merely for being
accused of a crime, especially when the
accusation itself, for perjury, has never been
fully clarified, is patently outrageous.

If the local powers of law feel satisfied at
having "gotten" Tom Doran, a small-time
pamphleteer, we cannot help wonder what
lengths they will go to get someone they
might consider to be even more dangerous.
We certainly hope the price they have paid —
the ideals of liberty under impartial law — was
worth it.