CANTERBURY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9144, 1 July 1895, Page 3

CANTERBURY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE.

A special meeting was held on Saturday afternoon to consider the question of the need of the abolition of the death penalty, and to take action with regard to the resolution lately passed by the Auckland Women's Political League re CD. Acts. By special request,""Mr O'Jti. Hoare addressed the meeting on the subject of capital panifihment. He argued that the fear of death aa a deterrent to murder was the single argument that could be advanced in its favour. But in refutation to this argument he instanced the state of society, a hundred yean ago. There were then 150 crimes the penalty of which was death, live hundred persons suffered the extreme penalty annually. Under these conditions there was no diminution of crime. Gradually as the destructive policy relaxed the crimes decreased. In 1832 the death penalty for horso stealing was'abolished. Iα tbab year there were 200 convictionsin three years the number had sunk, now the crime has fallen to 125 convictions, though the population has doubled. It ia

remarkable that not one o! the crimes for which the death penalty was then imposed has increased. In many countries capital punishment is abrogated. This is the case in. several of the States, aud there is rip desire to return to that method of punishment, which would certainly have been advocated hail the abolition proved unsatisfactory. To advooato tbe system as a remedial one ie folly seeing that once the murderer is immured society is protected. The source of the system is, of course, the Mosaic law, which imposed the penulty of eye for eye on a semi-barbaroue people. In Corsica the folly of the system, which has culminated in the vendetta, 13 plainly seen. There blood feuds between families last for generations. The innocent constantly suffer; under our law the conditions are nearly as bad seeiug that the innocent often suffer. From the criminal's point of view the punishment is unjust. Society is responsible for the making of mauy of its criminals. Many aro born criminals, and this fact makes the puuishnienb obviously uujuat. Moreover, the criminal is as true to his own moral code as is the rest of society, only his code falls below the standard of that recognised generally. Again, capital punishmeut is retaliatory in spirit, which is always morally degrading. Viewed in this light, it is utterly uu-Cnris-tian. The spectacle, too, of an execution is utterly brutalising. Society shows a curious mixture of sentiment. The office of hangman is held by the public in utter detestation, yet it upholds the necessity of his office. The time has already come when society must recoguise that criminality is a moral disease, caused by the abnormal development of some faculty, or quality or emotion. Mr Hoare concluded by quoting many authorities who urge the abolition of the death penalty. Among those he quoted were Cicoro, Burke, Bentham, Herbert Spencer, Mazzini, Thackeray, Lowell, Longfellow, Whittier, aud Whitman. A discussion followed, and the following resolution was passed with one dissentient— " That this Institute is in favour of the abolition of capital punishment, (1) as the State has no right to commit murder, (2) as it has not proved a deterrent, aud that, therefore, the Minister of Justice be petitioned in the matter of the Dean case, in which sentence of death has been passed, that the sentence be commuted to imprisonment for life." The followiug resolution also was passed—"That the C.W.I, earnestly desires to draw the attention of the Auckland Women's Political League to the following reasons why the CD. Aota should bo repealed—(l) Because they are a glaring violation ot constitutional law, (2) because they are an insult to the women of the colony, (5) because they aro useless in checking the spread of disease, (4) because they actually help to spread disease by creating a false sense of security, (5) because it is immoral for the State to legalise vice, (6) because physical good oannot follow moral wrong.' .