JURIES AND THE LAW

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 147, 22 May 1944, Page 4

JURIES AND THE LAW

Within the past fortnight three juries—two in Auckland and one in Wanganui—have given verdicts in murder trials that must cause public concern for the sanctity of human life. In each case a life was taken and in not one was it denied that the person charged committed the act which caused death. That the circumstances in all of them were sufficient to arouse sympathy for the accused person will be readily admitted; thinking people will also admit that the circumstances were sufficient to justify the charges being reduced. Instead acquittals were recorded, and the public may well -wonder’ from the verdicts whether the law is not being brought into contempt. The pertinent questions asked by a correspondent in our correspondence columns invite the most serious consideration of the community. Once respect for the law passes then it is inevitable that crime will increase—especially offences against human life. The Government has abolished the death penalty for murder and since it did so there is a feeling that respect for the law has declined. If, as our correspondent says—and who -will deny he is wrong?—justice and moral integrity have been subjected to cheap and sloppy sentiment, then the harvest to be reaped will be a decline in the soundness of our national character with all its grave implications. It is the duty of juries to bring in verdicts according to the evidence. They should be ever mindful of the oath they have taken and their great responsibility in regard to the law.