TOLERANCE FOR CRIMINAL NOT UNDERSTOOD

Chronicle (Levin), 19 June 1946, Page 7

TOLERANCE FOR CRIMINAL NOT UNDERSTOOD

-Press Association

By Telegraph-

j WELLINGTON, June 18. That the pro-criminal and anti | authoritarian bias ivas develo[jod to a 1 reprehensible degree, was the state imciit made by Ihe Controiler General oi ' I'risous, Mr. B. L. Dallard, in a | oriticism of tlie book ■ by Ormond • Burton, "I11 I'risou," during an addres, to the Rotary Club." Mr. Dallard said ii i was a book that had been favourabh ' roviewod and recoiumended to roader;I by several papers including church 1 publicatioms, as an outstanding objoc- : tivo study of crime aud prisoiis, Mr Burton's solicitous toloranco for thi j crimlnal was in markod contrast to his ! uuctuous disparagement of tio j"scrows" as, in tho vernacular, lu | termod the wardcrs. j "It rathor staggors 1110 that of all papers, church magazines should 011 I dorse such morbid ~and mischievous I philosophies, " said Mr. Dallard. "it is jpositively dangerous for the fanoiful | specujator to presume to give opinions ; in these matters. He cntirely overlooks the ever widening range of moral ro; i aud contamination resulbing from i bestial practices, yet the cliurch maga | zine reviewers commend the book. Nc i doubt Mr. Burton would regard a- ! bo.visli horseplay the cowardly batter ing by four prisoners of a kindly dis positioned old warder to inseiisibility and a living death. The frighteuing and assaulting of women in lonely places often has infinitely more fav reaching eil'ects than mere phvsieai damage done. The dastardly assaull and near throttling of an old lady oi 84, reported in the press, is apparently a mere peccadillo in Mr, Burton's eyes. In his over-emphasis of his concern for the oriminal he is like so many sentimentalists. He entirely forgets about the victims."