CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 37, 24 May 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

ENCOURAGING CRIMINALS. At the Supreme Court in Wellington yesterday three ,men who had been found guilty of assault and roblwry were sentenced to ridiculous terms of imprisonment. Two men were sent to gaol for eighteen months, and two for twenty-one months. Judges are obviously guided in their decisions by the amount of damage done to the person assaulted, and evidently in all the eases heard the persons attacked were not very seriously injured. The point to be considered is that in Wellington the criminal population is greatly in excess of that of other centres, and that because of the lightness of the sentences the worst specimens of the class gather and do their nefarious work". The average criminal whose specialty is attack is equally reckless whether he" attacks a woman or a man. One wellremembered case in which a man attacked a woman resulted in a seven 'years sentence for the attacker. The cases recently heard were against notorious persons wnose freedom is a menace to the community. Criminals of the muscular Sort whose specialty is attack simply laugh at the sentences imposed, and come out of gaol prepared to earnon their calling. There is no crime in tne calendar that is more deplorable than assault and robbery from the person. In cases of less importance New Zealand Judges frequently decide that the principals shall be made habitual criminals. It is our opinion that in the cases dealt with the ruffians mentioned, escaped too lightly, and that immediately on their release they will relapse into their old ways. The public is protected only for the short period during which these scoundrels are in gaol, out of which thev come fully determined to wreak vengeance on the community for their incarceration. No person who has committed a bodily assault with intent to rob should ever be allowed to indulge in his special predilection again.