Prison for Sex Offences
SIR.—You have from time to time, almost alone amongst responsible editors, permitted attention to be called to the harsh and often brutal treatment given to homosexual people. This type of pogrom still con- tinues in spite of the recommendation by such a responsible body as a Joint Committee of the B.M.A. and the Magistrates' Association. Recently at Nottingham Assizes eight men were sentenced, aged 18 to 45. The youngest was given seven years. Is it any wonder our prisons are full ? Even the minority which still advocates " cure " for this age-old anomaly can hardly contend that it is likely to take place with a youth of 18 condemned for the next seven years to an exclusively male society. Is no one ever going to take any action to prevent the untold misery which follows these wholesale prosecutions, and bring our law into line with that of other civilised countries which long ago abandoned this type of witch-baiting ? Clearly judges cannot be trusted to administer the existing law with any degree of humanity. The trouble is that few people, except the mere handful who, for pornographic reasons, attend the public galleries of Assize Courts, really know what is being done in their name.—Yours, &c., R. D. REID. 8 Chamberlain Street, Wells, Somerset.
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