IN LOVING MEMORY OF THEODORE LORRIANE SENDAK, FORMER INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL [PRO DEATH PENALTY QUOTE OF THE WEEK ~ SUNDAY 20 JANUARY 2013 TO SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 2013]

Former Indiana Attorney General, Theodore Lorraine Sendak died on this day (22 January 1999). In loving memory of him, I will post his Pro-Death Penalty quote. 

QUOTE: “Our system of criminal law is to minimize human suffering by works or order primarily to forestall violence or aggression. In the question of the death penalty, we must ask ourselves which action will serve the true humanitarian purpose of criminal law.  We should weigh the death of the convicted murders against the loss of life of his victims and the possibility of potential victims to murder.”

AUTHOR: Theodore Lorraine Sendak, former Indiana Attorney General, died of heart failure on Friday January 22, 1999.  He was 80.He was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 16, 1918, graduating as valedictorian from East Chicago (Indiana) Roosevelt High School in 1936.  He then went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard University in 1940, with a degree in government, economics and history.  He performed his post-graduate work at DePaul University, the University of Chicago and the University of Southern Mississippi. Following completion of his graduate work he was the Chief Editorial writer for 'The Hammond (Indiana) Times' until he was drafted by the U.S. Army in April of 1941. His World War II duties included active service in the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations in New Guinea, Leyte and the Southern Philipines with Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations units. During his military career he served on General Douglas MacArthur's Far Eastern Planning Board, participating in the plans for the post-war occupation and government of Japan.  He attended the Far Eastern Civil Affairs Training School, the Adjutant General's School, the Special Warfare School, the Command and General State College, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Defense Information School, the Judge Advocate General's School, the Provost Marshal's School and the National War College. His military decorations include the Asian-Pacific Theater Ribbon with three Battle Stars, the American Defense Ribbon, the American Theater Ribbon, the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Star, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, the Indiana National Guard Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service and the Army Reserve Ribbon with Clasp. After the war, he was appointed Public Relation Director of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.  Following an unsuccessful run in 1948 as the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Indiana's First Congressional District, he became the General Manager for the Gary Electric Company. He received his law degree from Valparaiso University in 1958 and practiced law in Crown Point until 1969.Mr. Sendak was first elected attorney general on Nov. 5, 1968.  He was re-elected in 1972 with the largest plurality of any state candidate that year, and again in 1976. He was a member of the American, Indiana, Seventh Circuit and Crown Point-Lowell bar associations.  He served as chairman of the Midwest Conference of the National Association of Attorneys General, and as a member of its national committee.  From 1975-1976 he served as the national associations vice-president, and on June 5, 1976 he became the associations president. Mr. Sendak led the fight against the revamping of the state's criminal code, saying the changes would do little more than make defense attorneys rich.  He was a strong advocate of capital punishment and filed briefs to help get the penalty reinstated. He was the 1973 and '77 recipient of the Freedoms Foundation Medal and authored two books, 'Olive But Not Drab,' and 'A Pilgrimage Through the Briar Patch.' Also, he was on the board of directors of the Salvation Army (central Indiana district). Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army or Meridian Street United Methodist Church , of which he was a member.