CRIME CURE

Grey River Argus, 16 May 1917, Page 4

CRIME CURE

BY SURGICAL OPERATION.

I It has been held by many social reformers that crime is a disease, and' that the criminal is often th c victim of his environment. New Zealaid Uas hitherto confined its reformative effort to useful open-air occupation for the criminal, and a liberal system of yrobatiou. Now the Hon. J. A. Hanan, Minister of Justice, has secured the endorsement of his colleagues in the Government iio a proposal for surgically operating upon a young man who is serving a long sentence in gaol, for the Minister believes that there is a fair chance of removing the source of trouble which appears to be responsible for the violent criminal outbursts of the prisoner. The subject of the proposed expen♦uent is twenty years of age, and is serving a sentence" for attempted murder. He endeavoured to escape from prison, and during the course of this attempt severely assaulted a prison warder. A specialit in brain diseases examined the prisoner, taking an X-ray photograph of his head, with 'the result that it was discovered that there is an abnormal thickening of the skull. This, .by causing pressure on the brain, is believed to be responsible for the criminal outbursts which have landed the young man in prison, with very little hope for a normal life of freedom. Though there is not unanimity among the mental experts of the Dominion in regard to the probable results of treparing — the operation of cutting ou£ the thickened piece of skull — the Hon. J. A. Hanan determined, with the approval of the prisoner's 'parents, to make the experiment in the hope that it will enable him to live a useful life, free from his former criminal outbreaks. Similar operations have taken place in Italy, with good results, but this is the first time N/w Zealand has attempted to treat crime as something remediable by the surgeon's knife. ] _