Wing-Commander Bullus and the supporters of his birching bill, which will come before the Commons on 13 February, must be given credit for sincerely believing that the reintroduction of corporal punishment for crimes of violence would reduce the number of such crimes, but past experience does not confirm their theory. The available evidence indicates that corporal punishment has no specially deterrent effect.
Further reasons advanced by Wing-Commander Bullus in favour of his bill are that to birch offenders costs less than to imprison them for long periods and would relieve the strain on our overcrowded prisons. Part of the spurious attraction of corporal punishment as a remedy for crime is that it seems so much simpler than long-term measures of penal reform, but all it does in fact is to satisfy a primitive desire for taking revenge on criminals, while distracting attention from the constructive steps, such as more prisons, more police, and the improvement of bad social and family conditions, which are the most hopeful ways of reducing crime. Prior to 1948, the only violent crime to which corporal punishment could be applied was robbery with violence; the new bill extends it to any felony involving the use of violence to the person.
Key quote
“The Pickwick Papers serial ended last night. It left me with a continued respect for the producer’s integrity, a faint smell of mothballs, and a belief that in Sam Kydd, who played Sam Weller, England has a sharp, sensitive and lively actor. “ CA Lejeune’s TV review
Talking point
A government statement accusing [Russian] leaders of anti-Semitism and appealing for the emigration of Russia’s Jews to Israel will be made at the end of the Knesset debate next Monday.
Observer dispatch from Tel Aviv
