THE THIRD DEGREE

Evening Star, Issue 22804, 12 November 1937, Page 6

THE THIRD DEGREE

MORE WIDESPREAD TO-DAY Third degree methods for extorting confessions or evidence are said to be a “ wide and increasing danger of our times ” in a report addressed by the Howard League for Penal Reform to the Fifth Committee of the League of Nations, says the ‘Daily Telegraph.’ This committee, which deals with social questions, is urged to “press upon States members of the League the need for watchfulness in their administration and of mutual co-operation ” to stop these methods. Remarking that “no one who examines the evidence can doubt that the use of torture is more widespread than it was half a century ago,” the report gives two instances of third-degree methods to procure evidence. “ They are chosen,” says the report, “from different countries of Europe, but could, we fear, be matched from other parts of the world.” In one case a prisoner was kept for days and nights in a whitewashed cell, one metre square by two metres high, with a light of 500 candle-power always burning before his face. In the other case the nails of a prisoner were torn outThe report consists mainly of the replies of various countries to a questionnaire sent out by the Howard League. The two most significant questions are:— “ Are there any rules restricting the interrogation by the police of the untried prisoner before he is brought before the examining magistrate or other judicial authority?” “ What is the procedure in cases where the arrested person is not brought before any judicial authority?” CONFESSION RULES. The replies to the first question show that among the countries where police examinations are under more or less strict rules, are England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and most parts of the British Empire, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Argentina. In India, Kenya, and Tanganyika confessions made to the police are generally not admissible as evidence. In Uganda no confession made to a police officer of lower standing than an assistant inspector is admissible. In Austria, Italy, and Russia police interrogations are governed by the same rules as those in force for examining magistrates. These restrictions do not appear to operate in political cases. _ Countries which have no such restrictions include Germany, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Egypt, a number of States in the United States, and Canada. In Canada, however, the English rule of warning a prisoner that his replies will be used as evidence operates in murder cases. In France there are no restrictions, except that compulsion must not b© used.

Replies to the second question reveal that in nearly all countries it is the rule for accused persons to be tried or released within varying periods. But in many countries this is not true of political prisoners, who, notably in Germany, Italy, Russia, Hungary, and Austria, may never be brought to trial at all., ...