PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDERS
Report By Church Committee
There had been considerable doubt whether corporal punishment would lead to the reformation of an offender or act as a deterrent, said a report by the public questions committee of the Methodist Church of New Zealand adopted by the Synod of the North Canterbury district of the Church yesterday. The report, introduced by the Rev. J. D. Grocott. said that evidence from Britain indicated that corporal punishment was not an especially effective deterrent. That it was used in so few countries could be considered further evidence of this.
There was always a danger of certain offenders being made the scapegoats of the community. A society which tolerated the exploitation of sex and violence for commercial purposes must share some of the guilt when offences such as rape occurred.
It seemed clear that corporal punishment was not reformative. Reformation implied a change in the offender’s attitude to society. If an off-(der resented authority corporal punishment was likely to harden this resentment and increase his tendency to anti-social behaviour.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CI, Issue 29908, 23 August 1962, Page 8
Word Count
174PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDERS Press, Volume CI, Issue 29908, 23 August 1962, Page 8
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