CRIMINAL CONFESSION GREATER SINCE WAR

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6808, 11 January 1929, Page 5

CRIMINAL CONFESSION GREATER SINCE WAR

New Police Methods METHOD OP QUESTIONING IS VASTLY DIFFERENT Mr St. John Hutchison (Recorder of Hythe) in hi a evidence before the Royal Commission on the police system, criticised the methods of taking statements from accused persons, and commenting upon 4 ‘ a growing tendency to use the police to support and protect morals, ” .said that the use of the police as a moral enforcing force was open to grave criticism when the enforcing of morals meant that the police went out of their way to discover vice, and sometimes to encourage it in order to suppress it. In his written evidence dealing with the general powers and procedure of the police in the taking of statements or the conduct of inquiries, Mr Hutchinson said that he thought it should be clearly understood by both police and public what were the powers granted to the police and in what manner they should be carried out. ‘ ‘ The difficulties that had arisen lately are largely owing, in my opinion, to the difficulty of reconciling two opposite points of view—on the one hand that the police should be given almost unlimited discretion in their inquiries into crime, on the other that the liberty of the subject is of paramount importance and it is better that in some cases criminals should escape than that that concept should in any way be altered. The former consideration has up _to now nearly always applied to foreign countries, and the latter in our eounUy ‘ ’Liberty of the Subject.

“Lately a growing tendency has been shown here towards the former concept. There is much to be said for both ideas, but little to be said for practising one and giving lip service to the other. I think it should be clearly impressed upon the police force which idea should be the basic principle upon which these methods of inquiry should be founded. 1 ' In reply to a question whether there was any danger under the existing procedure' of the taking of statements by the police being so prolonged, or otherwise conducted, that such statements might be made under the influence of physical or mental exhaustion. Mr Hutchinson said: “Yes, I do. It is a very difficult matter to deal with as it must vary with individuals. It might be wise to direct that no one should be examined for a longer period than a specified time, except at his own request expressed in his own handwriting. In the case of women witnesses another" woman should always be present, and if in her opinion the witness is showing any fatigue she should be allowed to stop the taking of the statement.” He thought some investigations were carried on too long. Replying to the question whether he had any Teason to believe the methods adopted by the police in taking statements differed in form or in the spirit from the practice in force before the war, Mr Hutchinson replied: “The methods of dealing -with spies, the provisions of tho Official Secrets .Act, the general extension of the powers of the police under D.0.R.A., the extension of powers given to the force generally •during the war, and the methods en-

couraged at that time have undoubtedly introduced a new spirit into the police. The taking of statements from accused persons, and indirect cross-ex-amination of them by the police, has increased. Recent Murder Trials. “It is interesting to note that in many of the famous murder trials since the war —Vaquier, Thorn, Mahon, Browne, Kennedy, only to mention a few —the prosecution has relied to a large extent upon lengthy confessions made by the accused men. It is no less interesting to note how few and how short were the confessions relied upon by the prosecution before the wur. These confessions and statements are not confined to murder cases, but now play a leading part in man ypolicc prosecutions. I have nc hesitation in saying that although the form of taking statements may remain the same, the spirit in which they are taken and the methods employed differ materially from those emploved prior to the war.” DeaUng with the allegation that police officers in plain clothes sometimes acted as agents proeoeateurs, Mr Hutchinson said it was very difficult to draw the line between investigations proper and provocation to crime. In observations kept in gaming houses and night clubs the police often bought drinks, and in this way acted as agents provocateurs, but it was difficult to see how this cou’d be avoided . * Air Hu(hchinson proceeded: “In moral offences, whether on the street or in the parks, there is a growing tendency to use the police to protect and support morals rather than merely see that the law is upheld. The ;i.su of the police as a moral enforcing force is open to grave criticism when the enforcing of morals means that the police go out of thejr way to discover vice, and sometimes to encourage it in order to suppress it. It leads : .o scandalous public cases, and subjects the police force itself to dire temptation in the form of receiving bribes and levying blackmail. The increase of this form of police activity is marked since the war.