Child’s Murder in Minnesota

I wish to commend Barry Siegel for his well-researched and sensitively written articles on the death of Dennis Jurgens (Part I, Feb. 28-29). It was reporting at its finest.

While reading this story, I experienced a wide range of emotions, from rage and revulsion to pity and disbelief. And there were questions: How does society produce an individual as vicious and twisted as Lois Jurgens? Why did so many otherwise decent people stand by and do nothing in the face of obviously abusive behavior toward a defenseless child?

Although the Dependency Courts are burdened with heavy caseloads and inadequate facilities, the system works because most of the people in it are truly interested in protecting the welfare of those children who come under its jurisdiction.

The Jurgens case of 1965 was a travesty of justice that would not have occurred in recent years. Public awareness of child abuse, and the stringent laws which deal with the obligation to report it, even the suspicion of it, have turned a harsh spotlight on a perversity of human behavior which was once shrouded in the darkness of disbelief and denial.

The justice system is a human system, at times replete with error and inefficiency, but thanks to the tenacity of certain courageous individuals, justice delayed is not always justice denied.

MARCIA GOODMAN

Assistant Dependency

Courts Coordinator

Superior Court

Los Angeles