PENAL REFORM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22498, 16 February 1935, Page 12

PENAL REFORM

It may be ventured, as an observation upon the processes' of punishment ordained by British law, that nobody in an enlightened community would describe the system as perfect. Violence is occasionally done to humanitarian feeling by sentences which judges and magistrates in the exercise of their duties are bound to impose on delinquents whose segregation from the community is rendered desirable by the circumstances of their crimes. But even to the untrained observer it would sometimes seem that the offender is in a certain degree the victim, not the active begetter of those circumstances. Normality and abnormality are in themselves loose, doubtfully defined terms. It is not possible for presiding judges, nor even in some cases for medical men and experienced social researchers, to characterise a particular person as abnormal. It is extremely difficult to differentiate between, say, two men charged with a similar offence, and to declare one a criminal by choice, the other a criminal by force of heredity or of environment outside his control. So the judge, taking into consideration, so far as is possible, the < particular circumstances of a case, and according due weight to reports on the character of the accused, imposes a sentence within the limits prescribed by law. The system is not perfect, but neither is it static, and therein is its strength and recommendation. The changes which have been introduced in the administration of British justice in the past century form a striking tribute to the flexibility of English law. The courts and prisons may still be the terror of the wrong-doer, but they are respected as well as feared. In the development of the democratic ideal and the inauguration of the new era in social legislation, the processes of justice have shared. The probationary system, which saves many an offender from the stigma and possibly the degrading influence of gaol, and provides him with a mentor in a critical period, has worked a great change in criminal administration. Reformative detention has its critics, but has certainly to some extent prevented the association of unhardened criminals with habitual offenders, while the Borstal Institute assures that youth will not be necessarily subjected to the contaminating influence of the older wrong-doers. It is in accord with a liberal and elastic penal system that, as a cabled message states, an institution for the scientific treatment of delinquents has now been opened in London. Its aim is to treat criminals who have been frequent offenders over a lengthy period with a view to rehabilitating them as law-abiding citizens. The value of work in this direction requires no emphasis, and there is no doubt that the innovation will be watched with considerable interest in this Dominion, in which the administration b£ justice is the object of close vigilance by many people. It has been said that justice will never he perfect until there is a psychiatrist attached to every court. Reform must, however, be brought about gradually if it is to be permanent, and the important requirement is that benefit should be taken of the outcome of skilled experimentation when its value has been established.