COURT AIMS AT REFORMING YOUTH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 353, 14 May 1928, Page 13

COURT AIMS AT REFORMING YOUTH

TWO YEARS AT BORSTAL “In this unfortunate case one is constrained, speaking for the relatives rather than the boy, to secure his reformation,” said Mr. G. P. Finlay before Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court this morning, when Athol Lyncher, a boy of 18, appeared for sentence on a charge of breaking, entering and theft at Opotiki. “There is a dual duty to safeguard the public and reform the boy. The mother is anxious that the taint he has manifested should be removed. She wants him to be a man who will be a credit to her and not a son who, by weakness or partiality, will manifest his taint in a more serious form,” stated counsel. His Honour: One cannot overlook the fact that he has indicated a want of appreciation, which may be from want of training. I propose to impose a term of what is ordinarily called imprisonment, but is not at all, by sending him to the Borstal. It is really a training ground and the least period I can commit a boy to that institution is for two years, I am sending you there, hoping the training will make you a law-abiding and industrious citizen. The prisoner was sentenced to two years in the Borstal Institute.