Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1950. DEATH PENALTY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 115, 28 February 1950, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1950. DEATH PENALTY

On. several occasions last year we made comment on the number of murders in the Dominion, and stressed the desirability of the Government reviewing the position with a view to the reintroduction of the death sentence as a deterrent. The Labour Government had to be consistent and retain the life sentence, but still rnurders went on. They 'are still, occurring, but it seems that the new Government has every intention of restoring capital and corporal punishment in severe cases. A statement along these lines was made by the AttorneyGeneral (Mr T. C. Webb) and later confirmed by the Prime Minister, who asserted that it was the policy of 'the National Party, as presented to ■ the electors, to reintroduce capital punishment. According to the official statements made, the proposed would provide for the extreme penalty in serious cases, but that position has yet to be determined. There are varying degrees of murder, and it will be the duty of judges to instruct all juries on this point. The responsibility will then rest on juries of saying whether they consider, on the evidence, that the accused is of first degree murder or otherwise, and sentence vGll be in accordance with the verdict. There doubtless will be opposition to the legislation when it is drafted, and there will be a body of opinion outside parliament which will not favour hanging, but there have been so many murder cases since the abolition of the death penalty that the law at the moment hardly provides society with the protection it is entitled to,” Mr Webb said: “If these murders go on and these men are allowed to live I feel a stage will be reached where public conscience will be so outraged that the public will take the law into their own hands.” We do not agree that such a stage would ever be reached in this country, but at the same time the position does call for the most severe punishment of apprehended offenders.