FLOGGING PENALTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 17

FLOGGING PENALTY.

INCREASE IN BRITAIN. .1 A LIVELY CONTROVERSY. ; — ' ] LONDON. Tied to a cross, a boy of 13 was recently flogged 011 Lis bare back for having stolen tliree pieces of cheese from a store at Hull. This sentence was administered by a Court official in the presence of two police officers. This is ope of the many cases where the "birch" and the "cat" have been used for punishing children and criminals who have committed crimes of violence. Two days before this a boy of eight received six strokes at Windsor from a policeman with a Government birch. > Not only does tlys form of punishment still exist in both the British Army and Navy, but the methods are championed by numbers of judges and magistrates ail over the country as tlio most effective means of deterring juvenile and habitual offenders. This attitude was explained by Cecil Bishop, former officer at Scotland Yard: "Afraid of Their Own Skin." "The secret is that it hurts," he said, "and all men who use violence are naturally afraid of their own skins. "I once saw a man recently freed from prison after serving a term of penal servitude and receiving 20 lashes with a 'cat.' This man had a terrible record of crime extending over 20 years, but this was the first time he had been flogged. He assured me that lie had had enough of crime, that he would rather commit suicide than have another 'bashing, 5 and that he meant to lead an honest life in future."

Mrs. Baldwin, wife of Great Britain's Prime Minister, lias stated that she considers the "cat" to be the only way to prevent assaults on young gills.

Supporters of these types of corporal punishment have long been active in the attempt to obtain for judges and magistrates the. discretionary power of imposing such sentences 011 motor bandits, blackmailers, and those brought up for rape and other crimes in which arins or violence have been used. An Active Opposition. The opposition is equally aetive, led mainly by the Howard League for Penal Reform and supported by many prominent individuals and groups urging more humane treatment of criminals. They claim that the law-breaker does not have a proper chance to be a. useful citizen under the present scheme ,of social relations, what with the filth and poverty ,of .the tenement sections and the wide "depressed" areas. ► They stress the fact that flogging is' unequal; in its effects upon the culprit. The physical effects vary greatly in degree^'and still more varied afethe' far more jrriomeritous psychological effects. Hurling' the insults of "barbarians" and "sadists" at their opponents the anti-floggers bring out statistics to show that .the use of the "birch" and -the'"cat" is, not effective as a deterrent. They cite the cases of two English, towns where 38 per cent of the boys who had been birched reappeared in court within six months, and 70 per cent within two years. • ' .'. Flogging also" creates a definite feeling of resentment 'which may well develop vengeful instincts leading into criminal lines', they assert. >the use of the rod is increasing rapidly. Magistrates all over England are announcing that if there is no decrease in juvenile offences arid'crimes qf violence, they will impose sentences for corporal punishment with ever increasing frequency and rigidity.