The remarks of Mr. Justice Stevenson were unfortunate enough, but
what are we to make of the recent decision by Mr. Justice Stable to release to the press photographs of a couple who had been attacked by a young thug on the grounds that 'people think of young criminals. but are apt to forget their victims. It may be an advantage if the press-publish these photographs showing the injuries which this man inflicted'? All the evidence—and the politicians are well aware of it—is that the public are already far more concerned with the victims of crime than with the criminals. The publication of 'horror' photographs can only lead to an appetite for vengeance rather than justice. Mr. Justice Stable, who enters his 79th year this weekend, apart from achieving fame for his liberal judgment in the Philanderer case and (more dubiously) for threatening to lock up a jury all night unless they came to a quick decision, has up to now had a reputation as an unusually merciful judge. I can't believe that the cause of mercy can have been much helped by the publication of photographs of this kind. And where is it going to stop? Are we to be given detailed pictures of the moors murders next?
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