CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1923, Page 1

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

AUCKLAND, Nov. 3". !u an address oil •’Crime end I’ttnishment." Mr J. \Y. Poynion. S.M., at a m,. t .| ing ~f the Auckland Justices of ,), t , i>, ace Assoeiat ion. said criminals were toddled ami lu-sed about by sentimentalists and cranks, otion as a humane pose, but generally in all smreritv and mistakenlv. Ihe imlueiue of these meddlers was had because It encouraged criminals and inllueueed CumJ- to treat them with undue leniency. Those remarks did not apply, however. In genuine first offenders t!l those who were really defective in certain respects. They should get everv chance ta make good, but to extend the same treatment to hardened and old enemies of society was childish. The last report of the Bri-ons Board showed that 77 per cent of those liberate.) were quickly at (heir obi tricks again. Tlm-e criminals, on wb.mi s,, m n,.|. svmpatliv was wasted, did not ne-.iic reform.

Capital punishment. -aid Mr I’uyuiiui tvntild never lie ab.di-bod. W' - nil bi i a.k.e it out . f ) lie hands of the •bate, but that meant handing over (lie ,],,t v to the friends ami relative- of the murd'ued person. In-tead of the guilty pets, ,ll being puni-ln-d. the puni-hmonl would fall on his innocent relatives, because it was a law ol Nature that Mood must be wa-hetl out with blood. The abolition of the death penalty would certainly lie succeeded by vendettas and many more lives would be savagely taken than were at present titled by the State. Perjury, he said, was formerly severely punished, an appropriate penalty being commonly to ho re the tongue with n red hot iron. Although perjury was very rife in our Courts, it bad always been so and there was no reason to become hysterical about it. It was a mistake to have it an exclusively indictable ofleuee. If it were puui-habie summarily by a fine or short term of imprisonment there would |,e much less of it. The vindictive perjuror. who lied on oath in injure a»onther. was rare.

]vp:\irs pcrnianoiit ly in I* 1 "’ mi**ules without sold,'rin- iron. Cireulation uni impair***!. Two sizes >3s Oil mul His IWI post paid- K- R- r ; ,n " nip- mnl Co., 5 Heilford Row, Christchurch . —Ailvt.