DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27824, 24 November 1955, Page 3

DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER

WELLINGTON JUSTICES SEEK RETENTION

CHANGE IN LAW ON INSANITY OPPOSED

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 23. “People fear the rope,” said Mr B. L. Dallard, a former Secretary of Justice. at the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the Justices of the Peace Association last night. Members had a spirited discussion on a remit for the annual conference of the association.

This asked the conference to reaffirm its endorsement of the death penalty for murder, and to view with concern any proposal to lessen the explicitness of the McNaghten rules by introducing a legal defence of irrepressible impulse unless it was first established an accused person was insane within the meaning of the McNaghten rules. It was decided to forward the remit to the conference for further consideration.

Mr Dallard said that to say hanging was not a deterrent might be an axiom applying to the whole criminal law, which was founded on deterrence. The punishment was measured to the degree of the offence. Though statistics would show there were fewer murders in relation to population since the reintroduction of hanging, it was not a matter that could be dealt with abstractly. Where there was deliberate brutality, the extreme penalty should be paid. Cases of murders of passion committed without first being considered by the perpetrators were safely covered by the executive authority. Mr D. Morrison said he did not think hanging an effective deterrent. Nothing much could be done for the victim of the crime. Those guilty of murder were not deterred by thoughts of the scaffold.

A price had to be paid, but society should look to itself as partly responsible and deal with the causes. Where capital punishment had been repealed, murder was no more prevalent. “We must ponder before taking the life of a human being,” continued Mr Morrison. “This type of remit can lead to self-righteousness.”

Mrs M. Stables said she had been a lifelong opponent of capital punishment. “I don’t know how those who call themselves Christians can hang a person,” she said. “We should have some mercy in us.”