HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1970-03-19, Page 18OO ER1CR SIONAL.SrT ,Rr THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1970
BY G. MacLEO,D ROSSa
off
Part 2.
A Re . or. "Criminal abolitionists . and hangers are can display tYi�
P o
Che Borstal ` boy killed a prison Instead a vocal 'wave of public
opinion erupts, -formed of
cera with an iron bar. P p ,
who
it t determine
The beliiefs' of both competitors o
sincere and will never alter. But tolerance f r e attacker• The
.H�2nnicideb"in ,England & � Wales a hastl details of the -�-
1957r68 *pared ' for the what • about the missing o 'ghastly
"H ici' ese arch Project" at middle-of-the-road opinion; • unprovoked and premeditated
,eozn de R J' those willing to be persuaded to attack are quickly veiled in the
Bedford, fQllege�'� ,Dept. of . _ concerted • effoxt� ica� "save". the...' .
`Sociology was intended 'oto be support anging if *it is proved to
a dete ' ent ; criminal from himself. Where it
issued- 'asr,a.eontributiori to .the. be °" • , is relevant, age is misused as the
b Parliament on Capital The .. fit lesson from the r
debate inP Report under reference, sk�ows criterion of the maturity of the
'Punishment' ent' and in time for the , for we' . ,continue. to
-- ._; .- e thing clean that the
t k — ng y6
crucial—vete- a en some4mon -- underestimates- age: .Wit ess
bac now. It was hinted at the suggestion to examine murder H ... who served in
•
tithe that the Home'Office had objectively is meaningless. young' . , ,
When is 'a murder not a murder? :Vietnam, only to have his lei
,,suppressed the Report,: so the grenade which a
When it is ' committed by a
blown off by
five-year old.
jeep.
So,
victim
a
had fixed
authors made a few copies; to his
available to M.P.'s. Though this motorist' By a drug addict? By a
action .was expected M to be madman or a drunk? By a thief,-
unfortunate for•the abolitionist, or a mother, or a lover? When it
Mr. Callaghan, in the end he won • is done with poison, an axe, or a
his - case. The Home Office gun? It is on,points such as these
officials admitted they held up - that the experts have failed to
the Report "because they agree and there is no reason to
considered it would cloud public think that other experts would
understanding of the issues," do otherwise.
[Note how well the public is The second lesson is . that
shielded today.] In fact the abolishing the death penalty has
study makes it crystal clear that made no difference to- the '
the .murderers, whom people -- number of murders. There have,
believe would behave themselves in fact, been 16 years when
if hanging were still the -law, are more murders. were committed
singularly unmoved by the than in the first year of .
threat of the noose. , • . abolition, viz 196Q. Thus it is.
The : killings which are • that , the argument , has been
reputed to offend public opinion returned to the lever where it
most deeply are: those done belongs - the moral level.
with a gun; those done during a Should we kill the killers, or
theft; those when a policeman 'or should' we try to behave in a
prison. officer is the victim and more civilized way than they?
those done in the course of a We are also back to trying to '
sexual attack, particularly devise some.deterrent which will
agaifist children. All ,but the Mast put the fear of Uod into anyone
of- these would be liable for the who even considers"murder.
death penalty_ in England, i -f th
�� DOES BRITAIN. CORRELATE
resent abolitionist experiment . WITH CANADA? .
was •stopped. The evidence - -: _-. _ -- ...
shows that these crimes grind on Hgwever it must be
remembered .ghat the statistics
regardless of the penalty., on which the' Bedford College,
Regarding guns: The. Report
reRort pronounces so
shows that there has .,been no confidently axe . peculiar m tosignificant variation in the use of
England &Wales, "where the arm
guns to kilt in the furtherance of g
criminal activity between 1,957 of .the law carries no gun; and
and 1967.. In the first "of these where possession of guns by the
citizenry is probably on a much
yearn ` there were six such
murders, and in the last year, lower scale than in Canada,
five. .This• is the more suprising while the acquisition of a gun is
since it occurred against a rising very much harder to achieve. It
background of crime, both is P ssible that this factor alone
violent and otherwise. By' far the coup vitiate the application of
-greatest proportion of shooting these English statistics to the
cases were classified as Canadian Scene. The trouble is
`domestic.' In other words, you that- Canada never seems to
are more likely to be shot by a publish .any useful or utilizable
friend; an acquaintance, ° or a statistics. Vide the Canada Year
member of your own family, Book. Perhaps when her mastery
than by.a:prowling' criminal. The of the .computer is better
five cases in which there was established some useful figures
criminal intent, compares with will accrue. ,
no less than 87 ,committed by However, like.a lot of other
"friends." [This may be a, things, statistics do not cross
further reason why `home' is water well, so that statistics
considered the worst risk by the culled in England are unlikely to..
insurance industry.] be applicabk. , exactly. as
These figures point to received, to Canadian problems
inadequate control ofa.firearms; similar in .Subject. The degree of
particularly shotguns; 73 ercent . emotionalism of the respective
P y PPeoples is -as different as are
• of the'1967 killings being made' their philosophies, but most of
with that weapon.- all, the -standard- of
Sex murders . have shown no permissivenesss. which_ each
significant variation in the country has acquired rn the face
. numbers' killed, the -percentage of homicidal came, ` differs
in 1957 being five and in 19.68 greatly:
the same. The suspension of the- It- is nowadays commonplace
death penalty in 1965' had. no for the victim of eveh the most
impact on the pathologically revolting Crime to be ignored.
disturbed sex criminals
•
•
_whatsoever-. The same .is- true- of ;IIIIIIIIIIImmnnnmintimait tllllmimenuomman
murder, by whatever means, by
.criminals whose main purpose
....was''NOT killing. In 1957 six
percent of . all murders were
committed by such criminals
while ino 1968 nine percent was
• the figure.'. The fluctuationsin
between make ;non'sense of the
.proposition that the 1965
abolition affected the behavior.,
of criminals. "`
The records of killings of
police ' and ., prison "officers also
provide no- evidence that the
' pattern of murder is affected by
the ° penalties. Between. the
passing of th°e' 1957 Homicide
which introduced the
distinction between capital and
non -capital murder, for the, first
•time ii 1968,13 policemen lost
their lives through homicidal ,
acts. Eight before the ,death
penalty was suspended and five
afterwards. Of those. killed since .
1966, three were slaughtered in
that unique' • incident' at
Hammersmith; one was stabbed
by a boy of 14 and the other
metas - run ,over by - a car whose
i�ectipants were sentenced to 8
years for manslaiug}ltel. In 1966
GOtIERICH'S OWN
before the unfortunate
is cold in the grave,' the
idealists have claimed the
attacker for their laboratory
where henceforth he becomes
'Exhibit A. The normal citizenry
--- the workhorses who keep the
pot boiling - come hell or
highwater, they are beguiled by ,
the excuse that it is necessary
for- psychiatry to discover: When
does killing become Murder'? •dr,
Is there some recurring, pattern
of circumstance, Which 'triggers
such dastardly action? Since the
human, hrain,_is, involved
comprehension , of which is still
further removed than are " the °
mysteries 'of Mars, no answer
accrues; no sign arises •.to guide.
remedial action. The outrage for
which society. prays�� some
deterrent may be found, remains'
a :source of occupation for the
psychiatrist.
Now suppose our
permissiveness. is extended by
the, idealists ad infinitum, a
situation of licentiousness will
be 'reached which will be .
,,indistinguishable from
conditions during:the Stone Age.
The question which' the Vocal
Minority needsrdask itself is In
'our' efforts to be avaht'garde, yet,
still regarded as benevolent
Christians, flow' far do We -extend
rennain as reminders' of what.
were once their standards; what
was. once regarded as civilized .
a- fact,
-so i e' �n
e ety, they have,- , ,
already lost much of the ground
which their forefathers fought so
hard to establish.
Thezef9rrg, .before we pan
decide w�iat form of deterrent
we will set up, We must 'answer
thequestions:1. How Much of
(�
our, 'moral standards are, we
prepared to jettison? arid (2)' At
morality? who are less who£ porn in • .outrageous
ou.r m. ty
prone to vacillation, believe they
are actually losing a rearguard
action in which their moral
standards ` are being chiseled
away ,bit by bit,
the .outward and
-behavior against the Common
Weal •do we say: Thus far and no
further? In other words, where
exactly do we demarcate the
so that while point ak which Liberty puts on
visible facades the trappings of License? •
MEMBERS of Alexandra :Maine and General Hospital
Association and other interested parties' are. urged to attend
theannual meetingof the. Hospital Board which will be
held on Monday, March 23, 1970, at Ot00 p+m'.. time
the
f the hospital,, at which tune we
Ladies'Auxiliary Room,a . _. .. .,._ , ........_ .,
'
Will receive the financial statement, the auditors report,.the
report of the °Board ant elect' members `to the Board of
Governors and conduct other -business,. •
roe. .
• w
It is the intention of the Board Of Governors to submit for
e administrative B -Laws. If any member is
approval, new. a m y�
interested in reading the By -Laws to -be submitted at the.
meeting, they are available,at the hospital.. „ ^ '
J.-11-10141(190...—. -
Association President
A. P. BOUTILJER
Secretary -Treasurer
40 ^4.
�.b.
PLUSH,,r
Make. sure you
st each
FREE entry the store,
time You are are n Win
it's so easy to
do but fill in
Nothing to address &
your name .& on in ballot
tlepo5Winnepneed not be
bo
present to
YOU
WIN.
COULD
Everybody-=gets. a:name__.egg-..the.
enf i re fami Iy, .even grandmother
`.So'shop a little early'at Woolworth -
and get your.' suppty. At this low
price we can't guarantee they'wi:ll
• fast until' Saturday
You asked for it:-
We have it !!!!
Special Offer On
Blister-pak Chocolate
Bunnies
r '
your choice of decorated 10
oz. moulded standing or sit-
ting rabbit in •a•large picture
•frame hox, 4„ -,great value and
a winner with° ail the kids.
Disney . Characters by
Smiles ..& Chuckles
Just Love Them
Mickey, Winnie -the -Pooh'
and your old friend Don-
ald Duck, all dressed up
for Easter in a special
see-thru ;bog. 6.8 oz. of
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--sr
Pure milk ghocolate dec-
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attractive window box.'
, . This is 'another
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miss to round "out Out `
Easter Candy Lisf.
What A Love Price!!
WELCOME
SERVICE
would like to call on you with
"housewarming gifts" `°` ands
information about your new
location. The Hostess will be
glad , to arrange your
subscription to the
_SIGNAL'STAR.
Call her at 524-9525
IIIIIOIIIIIIIiiiiiiinuii,IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIWIiIHhIIIllllllUhIII
GODERICH PUBLIC SCHOOLS
KINDERGARTEN
REGISTRATION
REGIS'`RATIIJN FOR SEPTEMBER KINDERGARTEN .
•Clams a've'now being received. Any child who was born in
E
-+ # e b'td atend, .. �
• m :;,,tel °gra e401x:kx.
vM:.
tion ...ifarriie...ewilable ,et -The .,following schools:
litho` is Public°Sctiool, 4:#11, 1Cane,"t'nnt`ipal, *°24; 386;
��►�►er'il►ili- AoiOrial $0001, .E,t Principal,
y/
3 assorted chocolate novelties
in see-thru window box. Some-
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traditional I ines.
VERY SPECIAL PR/CE PKG.
Animated 'Plastic Figures
They're Play Fun,
Eating Fun _-
Your choice'of Elephant,
Duck, and Egg in Basket.
Wi i 1 keep sma I I& I arge .
- children occupied end-.
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EACH
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