Draft:Edwin J. Lukas

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Edwin J. Lukas (January 25, 1902-1973) was an American trial lawyer, criminologist, and civil rights attorney.

Early years

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Edwin J. Lukas was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on 25 January 1902, the son of Samuel William and Anna L. née Jacobs. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and then the Brooklyn Law School of St. Lawrence University, where he received his law degree in 1923. During his three years of night-school at St. Lawrence he worked in the law office of Fiorello LaGuardia. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1924. He married Elizabeth Schamberg in 1931 and had two sons, J. Anthony and Christopher William.[1][2]

Career

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In 1942 Lukas joined the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime. While there, he held the positions of executive director and general counsel. "He was credited with changing the direction of the Society's program from one of prevention by detention to one of prevention by concentrating on the psychological, economic, social, and political factors that lead to crime".[3]

He was admitted to the New York bar in 1924. He engaged in private law practice in New York City from 1924 to 1941. In 1942 he joined the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime, where he served as executive director and general counsel.[4][5] He was admitted to the US Supreme Court in 1938.[6]

He was an early guest of Edward R. Murrow on the latter’s radio program, This I can Believe".[7] In the late 1940's Lukas conducted two radio programs, I was a Convict" and Criminal Case Book. These programs used actual testimony of convicts to reveal why they turned to crime.[8]

During his years at the Society, Lukas also wrote and co-authored several books on criminology and the youthful criminal, including The Adolescent's Court Problem in New York City (1941), Probation and Psychiatric Care for the Adolescent Offender in New York City (1942), and Crime Takes but a Moment to Commit (1947). He also co-edited Contemporary Criminal Hygiene (1946). He left the Society in 1950 to join the American Jewish Committee (AJC), serving as general counsel and heading the civil rights and social action department.[9]

His first assignment for them was to help de-Nazify schools in Germany as an assistant to John J. McCloy, the U.S.-appointed High Commissioner for Germany after World War II.[10] While with the American Jewish Committee, Lukas engaged in suits to defend the free practice of religion.[11][12]

He was an early promoter of the involvement of Jews in the civil rights movement.[13] [14] In 1964, he and the AJC joined the ACLU and the American Jewish Congress to go South to protect volunteers helping black voters to register.[15]

As chief of the civil rights division of the AJC, Lukas filed numerous amicus briefs with the Supreme Court. He was writer of an amicus brief for the AJC in the crucial 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown vs. the board of Education, in which the ACLU joined.[16]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • The Adolescent's Court Problem in New York City (1941),
  • Probation and Psychiatric Care for the Adolescent Offender in New York City (1942),
  • Crime Takes but a Moment to Commit (1947).

Selected articles

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https://journals.sagepub.com/authored-by/Lukas/Edwin+J

Pamphlet for the Jewish Communal Service Association of North America (JCSA), National Conference of Jewish Social Welfare, September 1950

The Crisis in Political Rights The American Political Science Review Vol. 45, No. 1 (Mar., 1951), pp. 289-292

Study of Discrimination at Colleges of New York State By Edwin J. Lukas, Arnold Forster (a publication of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 1950

Book Review: Boys in Men's Shoes The New England Quarterly, v18 n1 (19450301): 115-117 Questions and Answers Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951) v36 n4 (19451101): 271-276 Book Review: Juvenile Delinquency Harvard Law Review, v62 n8 (19490601): 1429-1431 Book Review: Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency Columbia Law Review, v51 n8 (19511201): 1073-1076 Book Review: Rebel without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v236 (19441101): 215-216 Search Result | Sage Book Review: Recreation and Delinquency--A Study Made for Chicago Recreation Commission by the Committee on Recreation and Juvenile Delinquency Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951) v34 n4 (19431101): 259-260 Book Review: Stone Walls and Men Harvard Law Review, v60 n2 (19461201): 318-320 Book Review: Pioneering in Penology Harvard Law Review, v58 n4 (19450401): 630-631 Book Review: Concerning Juvenile Delinquency: Progressive Changes in Our Perspectives Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951) v33 n5 (19430101): 399-400 Probation and psychiatric care for adolescent offenders in New York city, by Paul Blanshard; Edwin J Lukas; Frank W Hagerty; Society for the Prevention of Crime (New York, N.Y.) [1942] The adolescents' court problem in New York city; a preliminary survey of existing procedure and an emergency plan, by Paul Blanshard; Edwin J Lukas; Society for the Prevention of Crime (New York, N.Y.) [1941] Contemporary Criminal Hygiene : A Sourcebook Robert V. Seliger, Edwin J. Lukas, Robert M. Lindner; Editors [1946] Babies Aren’t Vendible nor Expendable , Bar of New York, 1950. Gambling. Edited by Morris Ploscowe ... and Edwin J. Lukas. Pp. viii. 209. Philadelphia, 1950. Study of Discrimination at Colleges of New York State. Edwin J. Lukas and Arnold Foster, New York. American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. 1950. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (Social Work Yearbook, 1954. Pp 108-119 Edwin J Lukas; Theodore Leskes; Also published separately by National Labor Service, Probation and psychiatric care for adolescent offenders in New York city, by Paul Blanshard and Edwin J. Lukas. N.Y., [1942] Society for the Prevention of Crime, 100 pp. Analyzes the probation and psychiatric services in four courts in New York City and presents a constructive program for improving these services .

Book Review: Concerning Juvenile Delinquency: Progressive Changes in Our Perspectives Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951) v33 n5 (19430101): 399-400 Can Psychiatry Prevent Criminals? In See Magazine, June 1950. Social Welfare And The Rights Of The Poor Based on an Address to the Alumni Conference Columbia University School of Social Work April 18, 1964

References

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  1. ^ "Edwin J. Lukas Dies". The New York Times. 25 August 1973.
  2. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Man-Brooks-Brothers-Suit/dp/1977848613
  3. ^ Lukas, Edwin J. (1945). "Questions and Answers". Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951). 36 (4): 271–276. JSTOR 1138340.
  4. ^ https://ajcarchives.org/Portal/Default/en-US/DownloadImageFile.ashx?objectId=6653&ownerType=0&ownerId=7338
  5. ^ https://ajcarchives.org/Portal/Default/en-US/DownloadImageFile.ashx?objectId=6653&ownerType=0&ownerId=7338
  6. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/01/archives/united-states-supreme-court.html
  7. ^ http://thisibelieve.org/essay/16770/
  8. ^ "Radio Recall - MWOTRC".
  9. ^ "Edwin J. Lukas Named Director of American Jewish Committee Civil Rights Program".
  10. ^ https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/ab-1958-naacp-v-alabama-1.pdf
  11. ^ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep367/usrep367488/usrep367488.pdf
  12. ^ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep343/usrep343306/usrep343306.pdf
  13. ^ "Jewish Groups Ask Supreme Court to Rule on 1866 Open Housing Law".
  14. ^ fab-1958-naacp-v-alabama-1.pdf Supreme Couret gDownloadImageFile.ashx
  15. ^ "Jewish Groups Join in Forming Lawyers Corps to Serve in South".
  16. ^ https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2017/11/21/Brown%20v.%20Board%20of%20Education,%20347%20US%20483%20-%20Supreme%20Court%201954%20-%20Google%20Schola.pdf