A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE Judges seem to be very much of one mind on Capital punishment. No abolition ; no discrimination between the treatment of men and women murderers ; no immunity for criminals between eighteen and twenty-one ; and (though at least one judicial witness dissented from this view) no vesting power of reprieve in the Home Secretary. All this is important. Manifestly, the wisdom and experience of the Lord Chief Justice and his col- leagues must be given full weight. But Judges are to some extent of different types, and I hope the Commission on Capital Punishment before it finishes will see that it covers the whole ground. , Sir Norman Birkett (not yet restored to activity after his recent opera- tion) and Sir John Morris, for example, would certainly have views of value to contribute, whether they coincided with those of wit- nesses already heard or not. So far, the status quo has had strong support ; the turn of the reformers, the Howard League and the Penal Reform League and the students of criminal administration in countries where capital punishment has been abolished is yet to come.
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