THE TREATMENT OF CRIME.

Wairarapa Age, 8 May 1924, Page 4

THE TREATMENT OF CRIME.

Recent tragedies in our own country and in the sister Dominion of Australia have forcibly directed public attention to the problem of crime and its treatment. Throughout the world there is a growing feeling that it must be more scientifically tackled; that punishment must be made to lit the criminal rather than the crime, and that the State must carefully guard against the danger of itself adding to the criminal population by insufficient classification and segregation of offenders, or by vindictive treatment. But, while there is general agreement as to the lines along which criminal administration should develop, there is one feature of such administration—the retention of capital punishment—on which opinion differs. The view of the majority is expressed by the cabled statement of Mr Justivc Avory, an English Judge, that its abolition would lead to a disastrous increase in murder, but there arc many experienced people who consider that the deterrent effect is limited to potential cases of premeditated murder. In addition th ore is a growing opinion against the extreme penalty altogether. Most peo-

pie will agree, at any rate, that the method of execution might be rendered less shocking to public feeling. There is no reason why 1324 should use the barbarous methods of the Dark Ages.