THE LASH AND THE LAW

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 274, 14 July 1932, Page 4

THE LASH AND THE LAW

The revival of the use of the "cat" by the judicature in England as a deterrent to the alarming increase in crimes of robbery and violence, will revive the contention that in its reaction against the brutalities which attended the enforcement of the

law in past centuries, civilisation has become more of a doting than a Roman parent. The savage rigour which characterised the punishment of offenders under the old penal codes has disappeared with other relics of the days of barbarism, but with a more hum-anitarian attitude toward those who fall by the wayside, there has also developed a tendency toward wishy-washi-ness. Admittedly it is better to err on the side of mercy, but there are certain classes of crime which can only be met with the strongest possible deterrents. However our more refined modern sensitivity may recoil from the idea, the most potent of these is undoubtedly physical punishment. There have been many very cogent arguments advanced both for and against the death penalty, but the fact remains that the enforcement of the supreme punishment backed by efficient police machinery, has acted as one of society's most efficient safeguards against the breakers of the sixth commandment. The same argument applies with equal force to the prevention of other crimes of lesser degree, but which constitute a definite menace to the social and moral code. Power is given to the bench in certain cases to order corporal punishment as a deterrent, but the tendency of late years has been to exercise this power to a considerably less degree. This is not because humanity has improved or because there has been

less call for the application of these Draconian measures, but rather because a growing public prejudice has arisen against the idea of corporal punishment itself. But it is acknowledged by criminologists that there are cer-

tain classes of offenders, more particularly in sexual cases, for wh'om the ordinary penalties of the criminal code hold no ter- ' rors. The threat and the fear of physical punishment alone can make an impress upon their beastliness. Another class of offenders are those who prey upon society in the propagation of vice, white slavers,, drug smugglers and traffickers in immorality, vermin who eat at the very structure and foundation of society. Against these also, the law has the power to employ the lash, but here again of late years it has been much more sparingly used. Now we find, with the alarming spread of crimes of organised violence, that the threat of physical punishment is being employed against that other anc. growing class which preys upon its fellow man as gangsters anc. thugs. It may be argued that this is, in a sense, a reversal to I the days of Justice untemperec i with mercy, but it may much more conceivably prove a very necessary deterrent which wi . | make the Law feared by those who have not learned to respect it.