British Government Will Not Reintroduce Corporal Punishment

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27346, 23 March 1950, Page 7

British Government Will Not Reintroduce Corporal Punishment

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright

Rec. 8.15 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 22. The Lord Chancellor, Viscount Jowitt, told the House of Lords last night that the Government had no intention of reintroducing flogging. He added that there must be longer sentences for crimes of violence.

“ We are confronted with a difficult and a dangerous situation,” he said, “ and I think there is reason for public disquiet. The circumstances of today are in many respects very grave and the short sentence is no longer appropriate. We have got to see what happens as the result of longer sentences. It is impossible for us to go back on the decision we came to a year' ago—when flogging v/as abolished.”

The Lord Chancellor rebuked judges who have referred to the fact that they can no longer sentence criminals to be flogged. “ The function of the Legislature is to pass the laws, and the function of the judges is to administer them,” he said. He was challenged by Lord Oaksey, a King’s Bench judge, and now a Lord of Appeal, who emphasised that crimes had been committed with far more violence than in the past. “ I do not believe for a minute that long sentences will stamp out the wave of violence sweeping the country today.” he said.

War I. Lord Lloyd thought the Government should reconsider the whole matter.

Lord Lloyd spoke of the Government’s “ reluctance ” to bring back corporal punishment. He said that he had the impression that the Government was going to stand still and watch the growth of violent crimes. It was impossible to pick up a newspaper now without reading of some fresh outrage. “ There is far too much of this kind of thing, and it is time something was done about it,” said Lord Lloyd. The matters the Government should consider, he said, included: 1. Assisting and strengthening the police force. 2. The question of Britain’s 15,000 deserters. 3 The effect of the cinema on adolescents, and whether a more strict censorship of the worst type of gangster film was not necessary. “ The Government has a duty to protect lives and property,” he said. “ Corporal punishment should be a reserve power to strengthen the hands of the judiciary in certain cases.”

Lord Lloyd, who opened the case for flogging, said: “What is so shocking is the number of crimes of violence by youths in their teens and the number of victims who are elderly women incapable of defending themselves.”

Lord Lloyd said that one of the most striking facts was that, in the five years after World War 11, the average number of violent crimes was three daily compared with three weekly in the corresponding period after World