Enquiry on Hanging
Considerable weight must attach to the evidence given before the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment at the end of last week; consisting as it did of testimony by the Chief Constables' Association, the Police Federation and the Director of Public Prosecu- tions. All of them were on various grounds opposed to any change in the law. On the disputed question whether fear of hanging is in fact a deterrent the Chief Constables stated that in many cases persons charged with wounding or attempted murder acknowledged that they would have killed their victim but for fear of the death penalty. This hardly carries conviction ; is it to be seriously suggested that fear of hanging did not deter the criminal from attempting a murder but did deter him from succeeding in the attempt ? But that a victim of rape would in many cases be murdered but for fear of the consequences may well be the case. Sir Theobald Mathew, the present Director of Public Prosecutions, is also in favour of main- taining the existing system. With considerable reason he rejects the suggestion that the judge should be left free to impose a sentence of death or some lesser penalty, and there is no doubt that the judges themselves would be reluctant to be entrusted with such discretion. It is worth noting, incidentally, that Sir Theobald, with his wide experience, paid a warm tribute to the sense of duty and resistance to purely sentimental considerations by which juries are commonly actuated. All this so far is what might be termed professional evidence, likely in the main to be conservative in character. Many other views will be laid before the commission yet and the reformers may be counted on to put their case with force and efficiency.
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