Capital Punishinent
The Death Penalty Enquiry. The evidence reviewed by E. Roy
Calvert. (Gollancz. N. 6d.)
IF anyone feels doubtful about the case for abolishing Capital Punishment, this little book, so fair, so moderate in tone, should set their minds at rest. Even those who are not at all in doubt about the desirability of hanging murderers, who hold with Lord Darling that vengeance is ours and that we should repay rather than leave it to the Lord to do so, or who share Lord Brentford's gloomy conviction that abolition would mean a great increase of killing, since all law-breakers would then carry guns—even these opponents of the change which Mr. Roy Calvert has been .foremost in advocating might find in his pages cause for reconsidering their view. He takes the arguments for and against, and he shows how the evidence given before the Parliamentary Committee bears upon each. His own attitude is, of course, clear ; indeed, he quotes from his own testimony as a witness. But he gives the other side a square deal. He states its objections honestly. He is animated, it is plain, not by a desire to score in controversy, but to arrive at the truth.
It is difficult in these days to make up one's mind about anything. Once opinions were formed in youth and clung to all through life. There used to be far less argument than there is to-day. There- were fewer people *lib wanted 'to alter the conditions of existence or the laws of the land. Now it is hard
to be sure that any institution is either good or bad. So much is said and written on the one side and on the other that the mind becomes mazed unless one makes a special effort to discover where the balance of advantage lies. On this ques- tion, however, the question of depriving murderers of their
lives in our very barbarohs and revolting way, the evidence recently given, as it is analysed and collated by Mr. Calvert, supports the opinion of the Spectator that the recommenda- tions of the Parliamentary Committee should be given a trial for five years. He is able to show that pretty well every argument used by those who are against change was con- troverted by other official statements.
For example, the Home Office in 1930 denied flatly that juries were disinclined to send persons accused of murder to the gallows. But in 1894 the Home Office had stated that " in the _case of murder the fact that death is the only punish- ment allowed by law makes juries very reluctant to convict." Again, while the Governor of Parkhurst Prison declared the effect of executions on other prisoners to be " wholesome," the Medical Officer at Birmingham Prison said it was " un- settling, depressing," and definitely " bad." Once more, official witnesses maintained that some murderers could never be " reformed," and that the only way to deal with them was to " expel " them from the world. But a prison chaplain declared that of fifteen men whom he had seen hanged, " per- haps half or even more might have been turned into decent honest citizens."
As for the contention that to do away with hanging would lead to more murders being committed, it was shown by foreign witnesses to be unreasonable—unless the British character is different from that of other civilized nations. One official witness did, in fact, go so far as to declare that, while other countries had abolished the death penalty without ill-effect, we could not hope to do so here, for the reason that " we are a nation alone ; there is nobody quite like us." This witness (Captain Clayton, Governor of Dartmoor), when presSed to explain this cryptic utterance, said :—
" You are dealing with the average British convict, a class of man whose temperament is perfectly different from that of the American or the Swede or Norwegian or any other nation."
Fortunately, Captain Clayton's opinion seems to have found no support. That innocent people are ever executed here was denied vehemently by the Home Office. Lord Brentford said that, after examining records for forty or fifty years, " there was no single case in which we could find even a suspicion " that such a thing had occurred. In answer to which Mr. Calvert quotes Lord Buckmaster's reminder to the Committee that Oscar Slater was nearly hanged, yet was afterwards proved to be innocent ; and that a man (Habron) sentenced to death for murdering a policeman and reprieved on account of his youth, was released years afterwards because the noto- rious Charles Peace confessed to the crime. Lord Buckmaster mentioned also Adolf Beck, twice convicted for offences of which he was innocent, and added :-
"Supposing it had been a trial for murder, the same evidence would have convicted him and undoubtedly he would have been hanged. And what would you have heard about him after ? Nothing."
Even more alarming was the statement by Mr. Pritt, K.C., that in civil cases perhaps two-thirds " of the verdicts of juries are wrong, and that " some " decisions in criminal cases are wrong also. Another piece of evidence that sticks in the memory was given by a prison chaplain, who related how on the evening before an execution he looked in on a prisoner who had been " very disturbed and troublesome all day."
" As I unlocked the door, this noose (which I bring in as an exhibit) flicked past my face. The man told me he meant to "strangle the first person who came in and then do himself in.' ' If they want murder,' he said, they shall have it.' "
The object of Mr. Calvert's book is to stir public opinion so that the Government may be induced to put into effect the Committee's recommendation of a five years' experimental abolition. The best way would be to bring in a Bill, or allow a private member to do so, and leave it to a free vote in the Home of Commons. That would show whether there is need for more " education " or whether the victory has been won.
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