OUGHT WE TO FLOG OUR WIFE BEATERS?

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 460, 29 April 1875, Page 2

OUGHT WE TO FLOG OUR WIFE BEATERS?

I At the Glamorganshire Quarter Sessions, lately held j at Cardiff, a proposition was made by MrF. C. Fowler, deputy chairman, that Parliament should be i petitioned to pass a measure for the application of the cat to wife-beaters. Since then several other resolutions from Quarter Sessions in different parts of the kingdom have been passed, to the same effect, variously qualified as to the extent of the magistra-_ te.s' power in the matter. Having been invited to express his opinion on the subject, Lord Aberdare stated at some length his objections to the further use of the lash. Most people firmly believe tbat Sir 0. Adderley's measure passed in 1863, which gave power to the judges to order a certain number of lashes in cases of robbery accompanied by violence, had had a deterrent effect on what is known as garotting. Lord Aberdare, it seems, is of a different opinion. His Lordship was appointed Under-Secre-tary at the Home • Mfice in November, 18G2, the outbreak of this class of robbery, which so frightened the public, having occuned the July previous, He admits there were many cases of garotting at" the time, and, as the offenders escaped with impunity, the crime went on increasing. But his lordship is reported to have addetf, "The streets were tilled with officers in plain clothes, and in an hour the whole of the. 1 'these garotters were in custody." Moreover, "In some twenty-five cases which had been reported, there was only one genuine case when they came to be examined to." And again, " Every woman who was found drunk in the gutter had been garotted, and there was a great deal of alarm about it. " The Act already referred to was brought in March following (1863), and became law in August of the same year. " That Act," said bis lordship, "had the credit of having put an end to those offences which had been entirely stopped by the action taken some eight or nine months before." This will probably appear to most of our readers a new version of a section ot our criminal history during the last twelve years. For ourselves we have a distinct recollection of Uhe terror caused at the time by the outbreak of these offences. The public terror was, in our opinion, by no means groundless, and in common with the majority bf English men — including even the garotters themselves, we firmly believe the diminution of these^crimes of violence is due not to " the streets Uew<r* filled with police in plaixi clothes," but to a wholesome fear of the cat among this class of criminals. On this ground also we must join issue with Lord Aberdare as to the necessity for flogging wife-beaters. If, as we believe, one class of crime has been checked by the application of the cat, another class ol similar crimes may be checked by the adoption of the same means. But the wife-beaters are even worse than the garotters, and merit therefore severer punishment. The latter are, at least, impartial as to whom the injure. Their victims may be old or young, male or fern ale, strong or weak, and the crime is generally committed on the spur of the moment. The mere sight of a gold watch and chain or a purse suggests the commission of the outrage; but wi&rbeaters, in the majority of cases, are far more brutal\iAd far more deliberate in their brutality. They M-tose those whom they are bouud by every tie to cnexish and protect. A slight act of omission^r commission on the part of the woman is sometiriae\ tne provocation, but more often the "fous ct ori^V ihaii" is the bestial conduct of the husband himse v i& As to the argument that a wife-beater whe had been flogged would either not return home, or, if he did, his wife's life would be always endangeied, his loidship must have been singular hard-pressed for leasons against flogging such criminals if he could urge nothing more cogent than this. Garotting has diminished, as almobt everyone believes, because garotters have a wholesome terror of the lash, and we are convicted the same terror would operate in the case of wife-beaters. At all events, the experiment is worth trying. Moreover, if we flog as well as imprison the brutai gaiottei*. then in justic should we flog as well as imprison the stiil more brutal wife-beater. It is certainly a stigma on the administration of our Jaws that all our brutes do not receive an equal l^ea^ure of justice. However, Parliament will probably take no steps in the matter till the result ot >4 Jtfr Cross's circuJar to the several Quarter Sessions, as to the effect of the lash, has been ascertained and carefully considered. In introducing the lash into the domestic ciicle, the legislature that will frame the law, as well as the uiagibtiales who may interpret it, must be guided by the habitual animus 6i the culprit, rather than by the intensity of aiiy sudden impulse. It is ticklish work to legislate between man and wife, but with some breeds ol" men the " argumentum ad terguin " seems the.onl^ remedy, and the efficacy of this argument lias been ably proved in the case of robberies with violence.