MURDER AND INSANITY,

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1922, Page 5

MURDER AND INSANITY,

REPRIEVED ON PRINCIPLE. THE TRUE CASE. By Telegraph.—Press Aasn.—Copyright. London, June 13. Owing to the absence of Mr. Shortt (Home Secretary) from the House of Commons, questions regarding the True case were postponed. London, June 13. Mr. Shortt, in the House of Commons, referring to the True case, said in instituting a medical inquiry he in no way ran counter to the jury’s verdict or the decision of the Appeal Court. 1 His action was in accordance with practice. He addbd that the principle that an insane man shall not go to execution had been enshrined in the law for three centuries.. He knew nothing of True or his relatives, and held no communication with anyone except the Judge. Mr. Justice Avery, charging the Grand Jury at the Devon Assizes, remarked .m the lightness of the calendar. He said he much doubted if the abatement cf crime would continue if the infliction of the penalties of the law was to be left to the discretion of Harley Street experts, for the only real deterrent to crime was the certainty that an appropriate penalty would follow its commission.