The Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1912. CRIME AND REFORM.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 9 March 1912, Page 4

The Star.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1912. CRIME AND REFORM.

Delte?« BTw Py evening by 6 o'clock in vuht ' ™Manaia\ N°rmanby. Okaiawa. S'™.- Mangatoki, Kaponora, Awatuna. n?,r?£k®« °4 akeh°- Ma nl .;ahi, Alton Hurleyville. Patea. and Waverley.

It is long since men began to think and reel tnat punisnment, tiiougii necessary within certain limits, was noc ait that was necessary m connection wiui tlie treatment or criminals. An eye tor an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life lor a lue was the formula, that <>enerallv expressed the primitive theory with respect to offences against the usages and laws oi society, and it still has its inHueuce. But apart from the great truths and teachings of Christianity it u-as called in question long ago by 'men eminent for their intellectual insight. J ulms Caesar, tor instance, was "distinctly opposed to capital punishment and in the eighteenth century Kousseau and other iiuii.amtarians in France England and America did much for the principle of reform, as opposed to mere punishment. Hut punishment, pure and simple, was a comparatively easy process, and as it was m accordance with the primitive inclinations of human nature, it was adopted and followed in all countries, and became more settled m the order of things than political institutions. No Government thought of anything else or found anything else convenient or even practicable, and so that changes advocated by the humanist reformers were in the nature of things slow in meeting with acceptance at the hands of constituted authorities. However, perseverance tells in the long run with respect to most things. The new social conditions in America helped the cause, and the first really great public institution to result from the movement v.as the Reformatory at Elmira, in the State of New York. The principle of endeavoring to transform criminals to good citizens, instead of merely punishing them as criminals, was here foilowed with results which gradually became known to the whole world; and* latterly, in Britain and several European countries a movement for transforming penal prisons to reformatories has been definitely taken in hand by the authorities. For more than a quarter of a century in New Zealand there has been a moral movement in the same direction, and Sir John Findlay, during his term of office as Minister of Justive, was able in various ways to give practical expression to the principle of the change. In consequence of this, a systematic effort is now made in several gaols in the dominion to reform the younger prisoners, and a large reformatory farm has also been provided with the same end in view for all the prisoners who may be considered in any way fit for such treatment. In his charge to the Grand Jury at Napier on Tuesday the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) gave his judicial approval to these changes. In doing this he referred to the First Offenders' Probation Act of 1886, the Habitual Offenders' Act, 1906, the Crimes Act, 1908 (providing for indeterminate sentences), and the Act of 1910, which provides for the detention of criminals for reformative purposes. Of course, the Chief Justice did not say so on Tuesday, but it is nevertheless a fact- that the first of the statutes mentioned by him was passed when he himself was Premier of New Zealand, so that he may be said to have given the first definite statutory assistance to the great reform with respect to the treatment of criminals in the country. And the figures which he quoted on Tuesday show that there have been distinctly practical results. For instance, the number of persons sentenced or dealt with in the Supreme Court in 1909 was 544; in 1910, 494; and in 1911, 426. Here we have in three years a reduction of 118, and it should be remembered that during the same period there was an increase in the population of the dominion of close on 50,000 persons. It is only fair to suppose that at least a fair proportion of this change for the better is due to the changes In the law and in the methods of treating those who have to be imprisoned for violating it : and with extended opportunity the country may look for still better results. "I may add (said the Chief Justice) that some people imagine that the only way to stamp out crime is to have the punishment a great deterrent to the criminal. In my oninion that is not the be?t way to accomplish such a desirable thing as the | lessening of crime. No doubt the law i must be a terror to evildoers, but unless i we have some attempt made by kindness i and love to redeem those who have gone ! ash-ny our prison system will be a fail- I ure." Sir Robert Stout admitted that some of the prisoners who had been treated under the new system had, when j released, taken again to crime, but j others had been changed for the better : and his hope is that "when the farm which has been set anart is thoroughly in working order, and when also there are better reformative conditions, we

may have fewer failures than we have bad in the past." This, we think, is a reasonable hope, a"d we are sure that all fhe country wiil share it with the Chief Justice.