PENAL REFORM

Evening Star, Issue 23129, 1 December 1938, Page 13

PENAL REFORM

THE PROGRAMME IN BRITAIN SECOND READING OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, November 29. In the House of Commons Sir Samuel Hoare moved the second reading of the Criminal Justice Bill embodying proposals for penal reform, upon which he has been working since he became Home Secretary, and which he claimed made the measure the most comprehensive of its kind ever introduced in the British Parliament. At a moment when the terrors ,of the Middle Ages were once again being dragged out of the dark corners of the past, Sir Samuel declared, it was well that they should hold fast to the humanities which had proved of such inestimable value to the nation.

After referring to the work of John Howard and other famous prison reformers, including his own great-aunt, Elizabeth Fry, the Home Secretary said they were now taking the work of those pioneers along a step ■ further, and had embarked upon the third chapter of reform, in wnich they were attempting to, provide an alternative to imprisonment. NEW REMAND HOMES. One of the main objectives of the Bill was to effect an immediate reduction in the numbers of young people received into prison and provide for the ultimate abolition of imprisonment for young offenders dealt with by courts of summary jurisdiction. For this purpose they were providing a series of new institutions, including two new kinds of remand homes and institutions which they were calling compulsory attendance centres, and a new form of hostel to be called Howard houses. The first type of remand homes, for children under 14, would deal with abnormal cases needing medical treatment. Remand homes would also be provided for offenders between 17 and 23 years. In Howard houses an offender would be ordered to reside for a period not exceeding six months. He , would be able to go on earning his living during his stay, but for the rest of the time would be subject to disciplinary trainIt was also proposed, said Sir Samuel, that habitual offenders should be detained in special prisons. “I am proposing to sweep away the remnants of former compensations, now little more than stage properties of the Victorian melodrama —penal servitude, hard labour, ticket of leave, and the name ‘ criminal lunatic,’ ” he said. With this change he was also proposing the abolition of corporal punishThe Bill was warmly welcomed by the principal spokesmen of the two opposition parties.