"CRIMINAL NEGLECT."

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1920, Page 5

"CRIMINAL NEGLECT."

A JUDGE'S SUGGESTION. JURIES AND THE WORD -MAN- I SLAUGHTER." Hamilton, August 31. At the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Stringer congratulated the district on the absence of crime during the past three months, i there was only one criminal case on the list, a charge of manslaughter against J. C. Johnstone arising out of a motor accident. His Honor added that it was a matter for regret that these cases of death caused by negligence, in such circumstances a% the present, should be designated "manslaughter." Manslaughter, in the minds of people generally, was regarded as a mitigated form of murder, and that being the case, there was unquestionably, extreme reluctance to convict on a charge of manslaughter when no intentional injury was done. His Honor also said that it was imperative that persons driving motors should have a full sense of responsibility and there was some danger that they did not appreciate this responsibility. If juries failed to convict in even cases where the evidence of negligence was very clear, His Honor expressed the opinion that the law should be altered in such cases and a charge of this nature should be designated "criminal negligence." The crime of manslaughter included a wide range of offences, which might be punishable by a mere fine, or a short term of imprisonment, or may be even difficult to distinguish from actual murder. Where cases of death were caused by the neglect of another person, called "criminal neglect," juries would not have the same reluctance to convict and the punishment should be adjusted in such a way as to deprive the convicted person of the right to control in future the particular instrument which caused the accident, or, at any rate, for a definite time.