BARBARIC SYSTEM

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 6

BARBARIC SYSTEM

Would-be Suicides Should Not Be Exhibited In Court

| Not only is. the thinking observer frequently struck -with | ■ | the complete asininity of the law, but at times it comes as a fj 1 severe mental jolt to him to realize that, m these so-called en- 1 1 lightened days there is still much that demands remedy m the | ; | procedure, adopted once an offender has landed m the net of | 1 the judicial system. „ 1

PARTICULARLY is this the case m i regard to would-be suicides, those unfortunate persons, who, having through , severe mental or physical strain arrived at that state of mind when life seems unbearable, seek to end all, and to find m; death a surcease from all their tribulations. Surely it is time that we developed a more enlightened outlook. on such a Question, and, appreciating as we should the unbalanced or overwrought state of mind which induces so drastic a step, made a more humane provision for justly dealing with, the unhappy creatures who have, so nearly crossed the dark and gloomy river to an uri-. known territory. ■ l Yet for a crime which is mainly one against self, though a statutory offence, our judicial system is so hidebound that it drags the harassed man or. . woman into the sordid surroundings of a police court, to be paraded before a curious,- gaping, idle crowd m the dock. This is part of a system which is nothing short of barbaric. ■ It. might be paralleled by the plac-

iiiiniiiiniiii.iiiniiiMiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniJiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiniiuiiiiMiiiii^ing of a dumb brute which has fallen into a vat of boiling fluid out m the glaring sunlight- to dry. The names of some criminals and offenders against the social code are suppressed, even when they have acted with the most deliberate premeditation, and the young are sheltered t*r the secrecy of an insipid Welfare Court; when a good thrashing would be far more effective than sugared -words; but the name of the would-be selfannihilator can as a rule be blazoned abroad for all to read. If there is any form of offence which might be dealt with m camera, or: at least away from. the gaze of the court loungers, and m an atmosphere less likely to shock an already overwrought nervous system, it is that of the intended suicide, and as there are a number of societies which are said to devote, themselves to the betterment of their fellows and social or moral uplift, it is amazing that such obsolete measures should be allowed to exist. Truly, the law is an ass. ' ;