CRIMES AMENDMENT ACT

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 362, 20 May 1911, Page 5

CRIMES AMENDMENT ACT

CHIEF JUSTICE ON ITS EFFECTS j m Toi.roii.Y'en. i'C.;.-.s \sm ihatiov.J Wellintgon, Last Night. Speaking of the operation of the Crimes Amendment Act, the Chief Justice, President of the Prisons Hoard, said that of of prisoners who had made application I~ would be recommended for release on probation. He said almost, all applicants had been seen personally in gaol. At. New Plymouth, where at present ail prisoners of that class were conlined, there was no doubt the Act was a great deterrent, and most of the prisoners were trying hard to earn their release, If they worked, and behaved themselves, they received sixpence a day pocket money. Some were saving it, and others expended the money in books, table luxuries, etc. It was obviously very difficult for old offenders to cast aside al! bad habits in a few months, but in the case of the younger men there was a greater possibility. In same eases, too, it was evident the criminal taint wan hereditary, ar.d the Board found many instances in which more than one member of a family had adopted a career of: crime. Generally speaking, the Act appeared to justify its existence, and when a prison farm was established, its possibilities would be greatly increased.