MORBID IMPULSE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 82, 21 November 1874, Page 5

MORBID IMPULSE.

The impolicy of the efforts made by a certain section of the Press and the community to obtain a commutation of the dread sentence of the law passed upon the convict Dyer, has been amply preven by the confession made by the unhappy culprit of the ci^me for which he suffered. The nature of the evidence arrayed against him, too conclusively pointed to the deliberate perpetration of a foul and diabolical crime, to admit of the acceptation of the plea set up in his defence, as to the injuries being the result of an accident, and the jm-y arrived at the only verdict possible from the evidence when finding him guilty. But Dteb, coldblooded and heartless as he was, appeared not to be without friends to interest themselves on his behalf, aud no sooner was the sentence of the law passed by which his life had been forfeited, than the quesliou of insanity was raised. Unfortunately of late years that dread visitation of God has been made the loop-hole for the escape of many an offender from the penalty of his misdeeds, and when all

points of law Lave failed to set the prisoner at liberty, insanity is usually fallen back upon as the last resource. Some few months since a well-known merchant in Melbourne planned and executed a well-devised system of forgery, which, had been so well arranged, that, but for the suspicion of one of the intended victims, it would have been the means of defrauding the public to a considerable extent. The plan of operation was a most ingenious one, and gave evidence of a more than ordinary keen intellect, yet the perpetrator was a man of independent means, mixing in the highest commercial circles, with credit unimpaired and affairs unembarrassed, and apparently with no possible reason for the commission of the crime with which he was charged. The evidence adduced at the trial was most conclusive as to his actual criminality, but a verdict of acquittal ■was returned on the ground of insanity, and the prisoner was consigned to an asylum. Since then, however, matters lave assumed a different aspect, the restraints of a madhouse having become somewhat irksome, the patient has suddenly recovered his senses, and petitioned the Legislature for his release, a prayer which the Government, with commendable firmness, have refused to listen to. It was urged in that case as was pleaded on behalf of Dyer, that at the * time of the commission of the deed, the mind not being evenly balanced, the person committing the crime was not a responsible agent. In reply we may be allowed to quote the opinion of a well-known American authority on this particular point— -Dr. C. A. Hammond. In a paper read before the Medico-Legal Society of New York, on "Morbid Impulse," that gentleman characterises what most people call " moral insanity " as a diseased impulse, and he lays down the doctrine " that the man who commits a'crime because he "finds a morbid pleasure in committiug it, is not to be treated as irresponsible for the deed." He further argues " that a proper exercise of the power of the will never fails in keeping back persons from the commission of evil deeds, to which they feel themselves powerfully impelled. A person therefore, affected with a homicidal impulse, but with reason otherwise unimpaired, who should neglect the means whereby such impulse might be counteracted, would, if he took life, be fully as guilty of murder, as if he killed through deliberate malice." This is a view of the case not often taken by the public, and juries in ■weighing evidence in cases where blood has been unfortunately shed, seldom discriminate between an act of violence committed, under the influence of some hallucination which in itself actually amounts to insanity, and an act perpetrated through a morbid impulse which is capable of restraint. It is to be hoped, then, that that mistaken sympathy which is too often accorded the victim of " morbid impulse " will be. totally discouraged, and that by the enforcement of stringent punitive measures against those who place themselves within reach of the arm of the law, stern justice will be meted out to its transgressors, and that persons who outrage society will be unable to shelter themselves under the convenient plea of " emotional insanity."