The Gisborne Times PUBLISHING EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SEPT. 3, 1906.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1850, 3 September 1906, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHING EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SEPT. 3, 1906.

A i ter the muddles that have been I made in the administration oi the Prisons Department under the present Hiuister for Justice, it affords us real pleasure to be able for once to substitute a tone of adverse criticism and sometimes liberal condemnation by hearty approval. What gives us the 1 opportunity to do this is the Habitual | Criminals and Offenders Bill just subI mitted to the House of Representatives | by the Hon. J. McGowan. As the 1 title of tho Bill implies, it is intended to deal with the difficult problem of what should be done with the host of criminals who, after repeated convictions and sentences of imprisonment) showed no indication of ceasing to continue their criminal practices, and who were constantly reappearing before the Courts on fresh .charges. The increase in their numbers and the recurring frequency of their crimes has become a serious menace to public safety, and for many years the matter has puzzled the wisest heads to devise some scheme that would be at all likely to rid the community of the dangers of permitting the old methods of treatment to continue. Humane instincts have always dictated the most humane methods of treatment even to confirmed eliminate, and they have been prac‘ised long enough now to prove beyond all doubt that leniency and kindness are comparatively lost upon people of thatclas3. The reason for this is that criminality has its origin in heredity and readily lends itself to a process of evolutionary development until it becomes a fixed characteristic which punishment of any mild type tends to increa:e rsther than to suppress. This was how the question presented itself to Sir Robsrt Anderson who has written very forcibly and convincingly upon it, and to Mr

Juatico Wills also who endorses Sir llobort Andorson’a viows. Of course many othor high authorities may bo quoted, but as thoy all converge upon tho samo conclusion, that is (to put in Sir Robort's own words) that “no criminal is irreclaimable, and I earnestly plead ,for reforms in prism administration that will make reclamation as common as now it is unhappily rare, liut considerations of this kind I only lend increased woiglit to my demand for reforms in anothor sphere. Thoy a (ford no oxcuso for a system which loaves tho community a prey to the depredations of professional criminals.” To provont this undesirable condition of things Sir Robert Ims propounded a scheme, and, shortly put, it may bo thus stated that when a man is convicted of a series of offences ,l against the peace of our ■Sovereign lord the King,” and when his record shows that during his incaroration, or whatever intervals ho may have enjoyod of froedom between his sentences, ho has not male any progress towards reformation, lie may be brought before tho Court on a charge of being a professional criminal, and the judgo may order his detention during pleasure. Now this is just what Mr McGowan’s Bill provides for, and though not on all fours with the Homo (Ulice Penal Servitude Bill of the British Parliament, it has at any rate that measuro as a precedent to support its passage through the House, and wo sincerely trust that the House will not hesitate to give it unanimous support. Some kind-hearted people may object that it would be an unfair thing to detain a prisoner after he h s served the sentence which a just and upright judge imposes as an adequate punishment for his offence • but Sir Robert Anderson meets that view of the question by emphatically endorsing the objection. “ But,” he says, “ that is precisely what takes place at present. Some judges refuse to hear anything of a prisoner’s antecedents beyond the fact of previous convictions formally proved, and I may add that tho influence of such judges in encouraging crime can be rightly estimated only by the police and by the criminals themselves. But our best judges make use of the very inadequate and wholly unsatisfactory means of information available to them, and in a timid way give effect to it in apportioning a prisoner’s sentence. Were it not for this the trials of some of the worst criminals would be practically a miscarriage of justice.” And in another place he asks, “ Would any sensible person hesitate for a moment to say that a habitual criminal ought to be deprived of the liberty which he systematically misuses to the injury of his neighbors ? ” Prevention is better than crime, and the fact should not be overlooked that the proposed detention of a prisoner in a reformatory is not a second punishment for the one offence, but the prevention of crime which the man’s record makes it reasonably certain would be committed if no such precautions were taken. There is no suggestion in the Bill that it is likely to be the vehicle of anyone to wreck vengeance upon a prisoner for the commission of his crime, for the Bill does not leave it open to the police to take the initiatory proceedings, for ; t stipulates first that a j udge must have convicted the person of one of a class of offences detailed in the schedule, and may, if previous convictions are proved, order his detention in a reformatory after the expiration of the sentence then imposed, or a magistrate may commit a habitual offender to be dealt with by a judge in like manner. When once relegated to the reformatory the erring one will have to show that there i 3 some tangible reason to think that his reformation has made some progress before he can be again released under supervision for two years. While in the reformatory, too, he is made use of for the benefit of his wife and family, if he has one, for he is made to work at a certain wage, and the proceeds are to be either wholly or partly, at the discretion of the Minister, applied to the maintenance of his wife and family. The Bill is one that commends itself, and we metaphorically pat the Minister on the back for introducing it. At last he has done something to justify his retention in the Cabinet, and we are not slow to appreciate it.