Untitled

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 107, 11 June 1914, Page 6

Mr Justice Sim undoubtedly did the right thing yesterday when he ordered Cripps, the slayer of an old man at Geraldine, to be incarcerated for life. Apart from one of the defence submissions that Cripps was provoked to attack, the evidence clearly demonstrated that the aceused was a degenerate, jf not an imbecile. His general appearance lent colour to the suggestion, and, this being so, no useful end would have been served by subjecting Cripps to the extreme penalty of the law, even had he been convicted of murder. For the same reason, it is next door to uselessness putting the lash on the backs of sexual degenerates who prey upon young children, just as it is a mere futility to expect a dipsomaniac to turn from his cravings for strong liquors and become regenerated. Physical punishment has no moral effect on these defective people—no permanent effect. Their mental efficiency is of such a low standard that they are quite incapable of understanding that punishment is designed to act as a deterrent. Slaves to their primitive instincts, they are driven hither and thither with no hope of ever being able to resist these instincts. The dipsomaniac riiay • have ''■ dry' ' spells, when spirits have no lure for him, but he is dogged by the shadow that one day inevitably closes rouiid him. It is impossible in such types, whether of the mentally unfit or of the man with the drink disease implanted in his system from birth, to discover any means by whieh they could be made useful citizens. ''Cures" have been advertised, but they have been accepted as genuine only by the very credulous. If punishment thus proves ineffectual, there remains the only alternative---segregation of the degenerate from his fellows in such a manner that the debased types would not be perpetuated by these afflicted ; ihumans. So Cripps is to be imprisoned for life —perpetual confinement will better meet the requirements of justice in his case than anything else.