Strengthening of the laws regarding synagogue and church desecrations, by making such an act a felony calling for stiffer punishment, was advocated here by Robert J. Lally, chief of the Baltimore County Police. He issued that call after a conference with Leon Sachs, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, following a series of smearings of anti-Semitic and anti-Negro slogans in this city, some signed “American Nazi Party.”
The slogans were smeared twice on the walls of the Chizuk Amuno Synagogue, of the Shepard Pratt Hospital, and on a beam over one of the prominent highways here. Some of the slogans proclaimed “Hitler Was Right. ” Pointing out that, at present, such defacements are only misdemeanors, calling for minor punishment upon conviction, Chief Lally said: “If it were felony to engage in such acts, perpetrators would know they faced stiffer sentences and the hoodlums might be deterred from their reckless forays.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
