BROKEN LAWS AND BROKEN LIVES

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32210, 31 January 1970, Page 4

BROKEN LAWS AND BROKEN LIVES

One of the main characteristics of this century has been a world-wide challenge to authority accompanied by violence, and made easy by confusion of opinions amongst men of good will as to an agreed basis upon which society should rest The capacity to create an organised community, governed by law, is assumed by man to mark his superiority over the brute creation. “A herd of wolves” wrote Jeremy Taylor in the seventeenth century, “is quieter and more at one than so many men, unless they had all one reason in them, or have one power over them.”

Because men have not one reason in them, each being selfish and motivated by selfinterest however denied or disguised, their only resource is to turn to the other alternative, which is law under organised government. It is not surprising therefore, to find that criminal law, which is a particularly effective and powerful instrument of authority, is now under the most critical scrutiny, and the most sustained attack.

It we are to punish, how are we to go about it, and what is the next move, after punishment has been inflicted? What is left after the murder, violence and fraud have been perpetrated and punished? How are we to live with what is left to us, and with what we have done to each other? What of the victims, whose blood demands justice and retribution? What of the convicted criminals, the defiant or remorseful occupants of cells, and the lives of those whose punishment is to tread within enclosed yards and guarded confines? Of what concern is it indeed to the great majority whose normal daily lives continue in freedom? These perhaps emotive considerations may lead thoughtful people to reflect and to formulate in tranquillity some workable generalisations. Now we have in this short and authoritative book by the late Sir John Barry, a study which is consistent with this view of the human scene.

The late Sir John Barry was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria since 1947, a leading authority on crimi-

nology and penology, and an author of distinction in a wide field of lari. The Secretary for Justice, Dr. J. Robson, explains in his foreword that the lectures now published in this book were prepared by Sir John for delivery in New Zealand

during 1968, but illness prevented his visit The lectures were revised for delivery in 1969, but this visit was abandoned because of illness and Sir John died on November 8 1969.

Dr. Robson pays a tribute to toe help which be and

others of opr penal administrators received from Sir John over a long period in matters of penal policy. This book is a major contribution in the field of criminal punishment and is of permanent value, not only because of toe views of toe distinguished author, but also because of his informed selection of quoted passages from toe extensive literature on the subject

The first lecture is critical of what Sir John describes as the looseness of thought and imprecision in language so frequently found in writings and utterances by psychiatrists. The second lecture carries a strong attack upon proposals for so-called “Treatment Tribunals” by persons who Sir John describes as “smooth men in white coats.” The third lecture, which carries much practical advice regarding punishment as social control is of immediate relevance to crime and imprisonment in New Zealand. As to life in prison. Sir John writes:

But personal deprivations ora common enough In the world outside prison, and lit Is foolish and unrealistic to exaggerate them when like deprivations

are found in prison communities. . . . Redesigning a social institution to remove its blemishes is a fascinating pursuit, but it must be recognised that primarily prisons are places of punishment in which the inmates are supposed to learn self-discipline. Furthermore, It Is only common sense to recognise that prison inmates are not heroes or citizens of merit, but are by definition wrongdoers, and often atrocious or despicable wrongdoers, too.

The author views many criminals as in literal truth enemies of society. They are not objects of pity except in the most extended sense of the word. They are insensitive to the obligations of neighbourliness and compassion upon which civilised society ultimately rests. These are Sir John’s words. He goes on to say “The criminal law is the regulated brute force of the community, but it is, too, the final barrier against toe triumph of evil doers."

The average New Zealander who wants to make up his or her mind about the whole question of crime and punishment will probably be well satisfied with toe guidelines laid down by Sir John. Here, indeed, we have an excellent and timely book.