The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1911. JUDGE CHAPMAN'S FIRM ACTION

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 4, 21 August 1911, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1911. JUDGE CHAPMAN'S FIRM ACTION

The “.Dominion” considers that Mr Justice Chapman did a very vise thing las t Thursday, when lie hi flic tea a life sentence on the wretched creature who was found guilty of an abominable offence, and with this view wo quite agree. Dealing further with the subject our contemporary says:—Our reference to the matter here, it is necessary to say, is partly duo to our feeling that wholesome strokes of justice of this kind stand in some need of defence against that sloppy mess of weakness and folly in public opinion that is becoming confounded with real “humanitariauism.” His Honour was evidently moved i.y two considerations: first, necessity !o» ridding society permanently of a tlur.g as dangerous as a mad dog or a plague rat, and, second, the call for a powerful deterrent against sexual crime. The public mind has really gtown very uneasy over the increasing number of sexual offences, and the majority of people will welcome Judge Chapman's well-timed recourse to extreme action in the case under notice and his severity in the case of another sexual offender. The Bench lias made so many references to this class of crime that it might with profit present a general opinion to flic Government for transmission to Parliament. The present method of treating such criminals is notoriously inadequate. There is little sense even in a system of severe sentences when the subjects of them coma forth from prison only to offond again. Severity is a line deterrent, but something more is wanted than a strong deterrent policy.