The Scandal of Parkhurst Jail Six,--Giles Playfair is, I hope,
completely over- stating the case for what he calls a 'progressive penal policy with its emphasis on reform.' The prime object of the law is surely to protect the legal rights of the individual and therefore to try to ensure that the robbing of mail trains should be severely dis:ouraged. This can only be done by sentencing the robber to more than he would be 'prepared to accept.' The emphasis must be put upon the main- tenance of law and order; those people who keep our laws must be protected, if necessary at the ex- pense of those who break them.
In many cases, presumably, sentences can be imposed which deter others and yet leave the offender amenable to reform. But if both objects cannot be attained, surely the judge has a first duty to society and only a second duty to the criminal. If he decides that he must pass a thirty- year sentence so that other would-be train robbers will consider it a hazard well outwith such an occupation, then he is surely right to impose it. Of course the offender will suffer, but if someone has to it seems fair enough that it should be him---he can hardly blame the judge for that and neither should Mr. Playfair.
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