The Capital Punishment Commission have issued a very poor report,
with three useful suggestions, one perhaps that is disputable, no argument, and, we suppose (for this has not yet appeared), a great mass of vague evidence. The Commission was divided as to the expediency of abolishing capital' punishment, and simply ig- nored the question in its report. It recommends, however, unani- mously that, if it be retained, murders should be divided into two classes, and only those committed with malice—that is deliberate premeditation, not caused by sudden passion,—should be punish- able with death. They recommend that the " malice" should be expressly found by the jury, as well as the mere fact of guilt. They also propose in cases of infanticide to try the crime of con- cealment of birth on a separate indictment from that of murder, in order to take away from the jury the motive to confuse the two charges together ; and they propose to punish with penal servitude the infliction of any grievous bodily harm on an infant within seven days of its birth that has subsequently died, without requiring any proof that the child was completely born alive. They also recommend private executions in the presence of a sufficient number of responsible persons.
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