"CRIMINAL NEGLECT."

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 27, 17 September 1920, Page 6

"CRIMINAL NEGLECT."

JURIES AND THE WORD "MANSLAUGHTER." At the Supr.eme Court in Hamilton Mr Justice Btringer congratulated the dastrict on the absence of crime during the past three months. There was only one criminal case on the list, a enarge of manslaughter again t J. C. Johnstone arising out of a motor accddent. His Honour added that it was a matter for r-egret that these cases of death caused by negligence, in such circumstances as 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, u nquesti onabl y extreme reluctance to convict on a charge of manslaughter when rao intentional injury was "done. His Honour also said that it was imperative that person-s 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 Honour expressed the opinion that the law should ho 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 he punishable by a mere fiue, or a short term of imprisonment, or may he even difficult to distinguish from actual murder. Where cases of death were caused by the neglect of another person, called- "criminal neglect," juries would ko t ftav.e the same reluctance to convict and the punishment snould be adjusted in such a way as to deprive the convicted person of the right to control in future the partieular instrument which caused the accident, or, at any rate, for a definite time.