NO RIGHT TO PROBATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 August 1921, Page 4

NO RIGHT TO PROBATION.

EACH CASE ON ITS MERITS. MR. JUSTICE HOSKING’S VIEWS. By Telegraph —Press Association. Palmerston N., Night. Addressing the Grand Jury at the opening of the Supreme Court here today, Mr. Justice Hosking referred to the recent pronouncement of the Appeal Court concerning probation. Be said the Court of Appeal laid down no new doctrine; it had not laid down that every first offender should be released on probation, and that everyone would be entitled to commit, one theft. This was an objection freely raised when the law originated, but after the administration of the Act came to be experienced such a deduction was found to be falsified. There had been no such result, and there was no rule or practice to warrant it. The Court exercises its judgment in regard to each ease individually, and does not admit a prisoner to probation without a report from the probation officer, whose business it whs to enquire into and report upon the character and personal history of an offender and concerning any other matters affecting an offender as may be required. His Honor said it was upon the same broad considerations, namely, the bear interests of the public and the offender, that the Court endeavors to guide itself in determining whether it shall or shall not adopt the recommendation of the probation officer. Probation officers know their recommendations are not invariably accepted, and that the ultimate responsibility is with the Judge. In an endeavor to reconcile the interests of tfce public with those of the delinquent, all the circumstances of a particular case are considered, such as age, character,, other circumstances personal to the delinquent, the nature of the crime, the prevalence of the offence, whether a position of trust has been abuaed, whether deep design had been manifested, or whether the offence was one of sudden temptation. These and other circumstances of a case were taken into account; the circumstances and their combinations vary indefinitely, and the conclusion which one probation officer or Judge may arrive at might well differ, but that probation was extended as a matter of course in every case of a first offence was far from the case. Certainly the Court of Appeal has not laid down any such doctrine.