CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20362, 17 September 1929, Page 9

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

QUESTION OF INSANITY.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MEASURE

Mr. Mann, Nationalist member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia for Perth, has introduced a bill to amend the criminal code by providing that if any person is found guilty of a crime punishable by death the Court shall suspend sentence and refer the question of the mental condition of the prisoner to a board. The board is to consist of a medical practitioner, an alienist, and a psychologist. In the event of the board's finding that the prisoner is not mentally defective sentence would be passed in the ordinary way. If, however, he is found to be mentally defective an order would bo made as if the verdict had been an acquittal on account of unsoundness of mind. (

Apparently the position in Western Australia in regard to acquittals for insanity is similar to that in Victoria, says a Melbourne newspaper. Where a prisoner has been found not guilty on the ground of insanity he is detained during the Govenor's pleasure. A man charged with murder some years ago was found not guilty on the ground of insanity. He was committed to prison, and remained there for more than 15 years. Legal men who watched the case closely were of opinion that the charge could have been reduced from murder to one of manslaughter, in which event the maximum penalty would have been 15 years. In all probability the man would not have been sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment, and with the ordinary remissions he might have been released at the end of eight years. That, however, was a peculiar case. •

Mr. Mann was for many years a member of the Criminal Investigation Department.