DETERRENT TO CRIME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27510, 3 October 1950, Page 6

DETERRENT TO CRIME

Capital Punishment Supported

POLICE COMMISSIONER’S ATTITUDE PA WELLINGTON, Oct. 2. Capital punishment was generally a deterrent to murder, and there was ample proof that in some instances it was so. Those factors in themselves should be sufficient reason for the restoration of capital punishment. This was stated by the Commissioner of Police, Mr J. Bruce Young, before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Capital Punishment, which resumed its sitting at Parliament House this morning. Need for Penalty The commissioner said that there must be a penalty for crime to make detection a deterrent, and in his opinion a heavier penalty was a greater deterrent. It naturally followed that the greater the penalty the greater the deterrent, and although there was just a chance that a subsequent offender might receive a minor penalty there was also the chance that he might receive the major penalty. “If these principles operate in one type of crime it is obvious that they operate in all types, even if they do not operate in all cases, and murder is no exception,’’ said the commissioner.

The commissioner dealt at some length with a number of murder cases and quoted portions of the evidence given by the accused at their trials. Among the statements made by various accused were: “ You don’t get hung for murder nowadays.” “My life is probably done now, but anyway they cannot nang me.” “They cannot hang me for it. I will be out in 20 years.” “ I am glad people do not hang for it in this country.” “It leads one to think that statements made by murderers after they have committed the crime may often indicate what was in their minds before the murder," said Mr Young. “ In my opinion, the abolition of capital punishment is a reduction of the penalty, and thus the deterrent is reduced and the gravity of the crime also reduced. Easily Influenced “The majority of persons charged with murder are below average mentality, and these are the people who are so easily influenced by any reduction in the gravity of the crime and easily impressed by the many newspaper reports and headlines stating that the penalty for murder is less than death,” said Mr Young. "The lower the mentality of the subject, the stronger the deterrent must be.” The commissioner said that the restoration of capital punishment as it appeared on the Statute Book in 1941

was most desirable. The death penalty might not be carried out until the pleasure of the Governor-General was known, and the practice was that any sentence of death was reviewed by Cabinet before a recommendation was made to his Excellency as to whether the sentence should be carried out or commuted to life imprisonment. Thus it was made doubly sure that the death penalty was warranted. “ One cannot but feel seriously concerned for the safety of women and children when a woman out for a walk in the middle of the day in the heart of New Zealand’s capital city is struck down, murdered and outraged by a young criminal just out of prison for a previous outrage on a young girl,” continued the Commissioner. “ I agree that there may be types of killings which do not justify the death penalty and I desire it to be clearly understood that the police accept as a first principle that it is their duty to enforce the law with impartiality and firmness. When an offender is brought before the court, the duty of the police ends with the presentation of the evidence as fully and freely as possible; the findings and punishments are the sole concern of the magistrate and the judges.”