JUDGE LOOKS BACK

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 48, 27 February 1936, Page 8

JUDGE LOOKS BACK

“THE QUALITY OF MERCY” OFFENDERS WHO MADE GOOD “Keep a man out of prison if you can safely do so in the interests of the public.” That is the advice given to judges and magistrates by Sir Robert Wallace, who celebrated his 85th birthday recently. Five years ago, when he retired, he had been chairman of the County of London Sessions for 24 years and had acted as the judge in hundreds of cases. Talking in the drawing-room of his home at Camden Hill Court, Kensington, Sir Robert recalled with evident pleasure that many delinquents, whom he had saved from prison, had made good and that he had earned the title of “The Merciful Judge.” Sentences Less Severe. “I was acting as judge at the London Sessions for a year before the establishment of the Court of Criminal Appeal,” he said. “It was a great reform. “I was a member of the House of Commons when the Bill was brought forward. Many members objected to it on the ground that juries would be less careful if a prisoner had a right to appeal, but it was passed and the effect has been marvellous. “With the setting up of the Court judges and magistrates began to revise their sentences. They were less severe. “One happy circumstance is that crime has decreased. I know of many cases where offenders have made good simply because they were given another chance in life and were placed on probation. Thanked After 15 Years. “Fifteen years after she had committed a rather serious offence a young woman rang me up on the telephone and thanked me for having put her on probation. She told me that she was occupying a leading position in the City. “I know of many men, filling posts as managers and other important positions, whom no one would ever suspect had at one period been standing in the dock in a criminal court.”