Credo of a penal reformer
Sir: Mr Giles Playfair is doing my work for me (Letters, 6 September). The huge increase in- crime and the tendency towards a reforma- tive and humanitarian penal policy run parallel. The 1938 figures demonstrate the effectiveness of a retributive and deterrent penal policy. They could hardly be affected by whit Sir Samuel Hoare said in the same year. But I am grateful that Mr Playfair acknow- ledges that there has been a change in penal policy, even though it has not been as complete as he desires. The fact of the increase in human suffering brought about by this change remains unaltered.
A hundred years from now we shall look back upon the sufferings of the child victims of crime with the same incredulous horror as now we look back upon the sufferings of child- ren in the mines and factories. The choice then was between the interests of the owners and the children. The choice now is between the in- terests of the psychotics and the children.
The sad truth is that there isn't 'a treasure in the heart of every man.' There is no treasure in the hearts of those who, to quote only one example, beat up a two year old boy in Glas- gow recently, crippling him for life. Society can only deter such creatures by killing or breaking them.
I earnestly wish it were otherwise. I earnestly wish that the choice were less brutal. But neither my wishes nor Mr Playfair's theories will change human nature.
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