Panel against death penalty

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 4

Panel against death penalty

Wellington reporter The Penal Policy Review Committee unanimously opposes the reintroduction of capital punishment in New Zealand. Except for a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Gideon Tait, all members oppose the reintroduction of corporal punishment. These penalties had been investigated and then rejected by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Violent Offending in 1979, and the Penal Policy Review Committee felt no good purpose would be served by repeating all the reasons of the Select Committee. They were summed up in the words of a former Minister of Justice, Sir John Marshall. in 1969: “Harsh penalties have been used in the past and have failed.” The majority of the committee felt that responding to violence with violence of the same type was not the answer for a civilised community. Mr Tait held the pragmatic view that for certain types of violent young offenders a few strokes of the birch might have a greater

effect than any form of custody. 1 Capital punishment still exists for treason. The committee’s majority recommended that this should be reduced to a maximum of life imprisonment. One member supported its retention while another thought that it should be reduced to a maximum of life imprisonment, except in wartime.

New moons Scientists analysing data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft have discovered four and possibly six new satellites circling the planet Saturn, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration reports. The discovery brings the number of known Saturnian moons to between 21 and 23. Before Voyager 1 surveyed the planet in 1980 and Voyager 2 skipped past it last year the ringed planet had only 10 known satellites. The Voyagers also identified three new satellites in their encounters with Jupiter in 1979, raising the known number to 16. — Washington.