Recent Judicial Decisions
| Date | 01 July 1958 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5803100302 |
| Published date | 01 July 1958 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
RECENT
JUDICIAL
DECISIONS 153
1,337 were actually taken before the court, an increase of 77 on the
1,260 proceeded against during 1956.
608 or 31·3%were helped by the. Juvenile Liaison Officers without
appearing in court.
"Of
the 5,616 juveniles accepted for supervision since the inception
of the Juvenile Liaison Officers' Department, 504 (9
%)
have since
committed afurther offence.
"Being aware
of
the dangers and temptations to which wayward
young girls become exposed in a large city, I have enlarged the scope of
the department by the addition of a Moral Welfare Section, staffed by
six specially selected policewomen who have had considerable experi-
ence of welfare work.
"In
tune with the established policy of our Juvenile Liaison Officer
Scheme, they will seek the active and sympathetic co-operation of the
girls and their parents.
"We have already had the most encouraging results and believe
that through this positive action we shall be able to dissuade young
people from causing much misery and unhappiness both to themselves
and to their parents."
Recent
Judicial
Decisions
HOMICIDE AND DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY
R. v, Matheson; R. v. Bastian
In the first of these cases (1958, I W.L.R. 474) of alleged murder
there was undoubted evidence of premeditation, but the Court of
Criminal Appeal substituted a verdict
of
manslaughter for one
of
murder which the jury had brought in in spite of the medical evidence.
The Court explained that an abnormal mind is as capable of forming
an intention and desire to kill as one that is normal and that it is
just
what an abnormal mind might do. A desire to kill is quite common in
cases of insanity.
The Court said that they could well understand that a jury, faced
with an appalling crime committed by a sodomite, whether from
jealousy or because his victim would no longer pander to his vice,
would think that such a creature ought not to live and that conse-
quently a verdict involving the capital sentence was the only one
appropriate. But it has to be borne in mind that Parliament has altered
the law and decreed that if a killing is committed by a person whose
abnormal mind has seriously diminished his responsibility the verdict
is to be manslaughter and not murder. The appellant, a confirmed
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