ABORTION TRIALS
CONVICTION DIFFICULTIES JURY SYSTEM DEFENDED [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, April 10. The difficulty of obtaining convictions in cases in which persons are charged with abortion was emphasised by the special committee in the report to the Health Minister. This portion of the report was referred to a prominent Wellington barrister for comment. He admitted the difficulty, but was of the opinion that the maintaining of the jury system in connection with criminal trials was so important and so essential a part of the British administration of justice that he would not like to see inroads made on it for the purpose of meeting a particular class of case. However desirable it might be to ensure that a conviction should follow where guilt was proved, it was more important that an innocent person should not be convicted than that a guilty person should be acquitted or not convicted, and trial by jury was the best means of ensuring that. He pointed out that juries, after all, reflected public opinion, and it seemed that any remedy to deal with the problem would lie in educating public opinion.
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Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 17
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188ABORTION TRIALS Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 17
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