OLD CRIMINALS.

Northern Advocate, 30 January 1922, Page 6

OLD CRIMINALS.

HOPELESS POSITION.

A JUDGE'S SUGGESTION

ADELAIDE, Jan. 18

In sentencing prisoners at tbo Criminal Sessions Mr Justice Angus Parsons commented upon a statement which had been handed to him by a prisoner who had a record of 12 years' crime, and was present that morning for another offence. What that man had said appeared to his Honour to be a genuine statement, and illustrated the hopelessness of an old offender's position. In his statement the prisoner said that on his second day in Adelaide he was knocked down by a motor car, and his artificial leg was broken- The cost of purchasing a substitute left him with very little money. Some who knew he had been recently discharged from gaol in New South Wales informed the police. He was arrested, and given 12 hours to leave the State. The statement continued: "Not having any money, my good resolutions were put to the test. Temptation came to my heart. My contact with humanising agents has been nil. I have just served five years in New South Wales. I have done it in solitary confinement. My brain seems to have lost all perspective, j I dread gaol with naked fear, not as! punishment so much as a waste of life and loss. The whole tragedy is this — I know in my heart that I ana capable of better things." His Honour, proceeding, said he could not give the prisoner a chance. It was too late, but he did not think he would be exceeding his duty as a Judge if he pointed out to the community what was the real position of men who iad several convictions against them. We had taken the trouble to set aside areas for the protection of aboriginal natives, and he would throw it out to the public of Australia that there must l be found in this island continent some places where these men who were not past hope of redemption might find some asylum where they would not be watched at every corner as in the streets of a city, but where they might try to win back respectability and citizenship.