CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 24, 24 December 1932, Page 8

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

A JUDGMENT FROM EXPERIENCE THE WAY TO REFORM. Sir Henry Dickens retired recently from the post of Common Serjeant in the city of London. The following are extracts from an article appearing in the London Times' in which lie draws upon his 15 years’ experience of the Bench at the Central Criminal Court, with particular reference to the increase of violent crime. There has been much discussion of late in the Press on crime, its punishment, and the best means of dealing witli it. Now that I am no longer ou the Bench I feel I can with propriety consider this question publicly from the point of view of a Judge concerned with tlie imposition of punishment, and I have endeavoured to bring to bear my experience of 15 years as a Judge at the Central Criminal Court.

Tlie most difficult as well as the most anxious part of a Judge’s duty in a criminal case is, beyond all doubt, that of fairly adjusting the punishment to the particular offence, having regard to the conditions of crime at the time. A very well-known and experienced Judge said to me years ago: “The trying of a case is as easy as shelling peas; the difficulty begins when the question of sentence arises.” Though I cannot quite agree with the first part of this proposition, I am entirely at one with its conclusion. ' YOUTH AND VIOLENCE. As matters stand at present it is essential that sentences should be exemplary and effective enough to meet the new forms of crime which confront us, and in which young people take a.n active part; and the judges can be relied upon to do what is right and just. The state of crime in this country is most alarming in two respects. Firstly, because its principal characteristic is violence, and, secondly, on account of the extreme youthfulness of those who share in it. Mechanical transport has revolutionised crime. The quick “get-away” ensures very .largely the chance of escape. The police are heavily handicapped. The crime itself in such deeds of violence is of a peculiarly cowardly, callous, and brutal nature. What can be simpler ? Steal a car which has been left unattended, drive it along a highway, even a busy one, mark down your victim, either man or woman (it does not matter which), walking along the footway unconscious of danger, knock him or her on the head with a hammer or some other deadly instrument, seize what can be found, leave the victim unconscious and bleeding by the roadside, and away in the car to safety. ■ In common with other Judges, 1 have of late years acted on the principle that generous leniency should if possible bo extended to the criminal; but leniency in such cases of violence as I have been describing would surely be false sentiment misapplied. The Judges, indeed, may find themselves compelled to deal with in. only one way, and that is by the infliction of severe and salutary punishment, which in the absence of very special circumstances would pay no regard to previous good character. Such a course might be considered harsh, but the harshness, if any, is excused by its undoubted necessity. “OUR LIFE PRESERVER. I thoroughly believe in the efficacy qf the “cat” or birch for young men, which might well be administered in such cases us blackmail and “hold-ups or “smash and grab” or “breaking and entering,” even where no bodily violence is used. It must be remembered that many years ago there was a brutal form of crime known as garrotting.” Flogging was tried as a preventive, and garrotting ceased. Its cessation is a tact, however, some in} dispute the efficacy of flogging. I was very much impressed by wliat 1 lieaid during a visit to one of the great prisons. 1 wanted to see a cat-of-mne-tails.” A warder fetched one, and as he laid it on the table ho said with tiie utmost seriousness: "My lord, this is our life-preserver; without it outlives would not be worth an hour s purchase.” . What is the reason for this wave of violent crime ? There are two outstanding features of tlris generation which have forced themselves on my attention. The first is a sad “loosening of the family ties,” and the otiier is the prevalent weakening of the “will to work.” To these two blots in our body politic well-inten-tioned reformers should direct thenattention, lor they are among the poisonous elements out of which crime is made. One word of tire effect oil 3 T oung people by the cinema. Ilie cinema is often of great value both as an amusement and education, but it lias its grave dangers. There is a spirit of adventure in young people which, if directed into legitimate channels, is to be encouraged, but if it is directed into channels which are featured by the deeds of gangsters fighting against society, then the spirit which otherwise'would be praiseworthy becomes in the highest degree dangerous to young people and consequently dangerous to the community at large.