Crime and Punishment
Dr. Robert Anderson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in London, has written an article in the Nineteenth Century for February on “Our Absurd System of Punishing Crime.” He finds that there is an increase in “professional” crime which might be suppressed, and ought to be dealt with in a more intelligent way than at present. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that this real danger to the Commonwealth is mainly due to the lenient sentences which have become the rule consequent on the decrease of ordinary crime. In effect, he concludes that professional criminals should be deprived of the liberty they abuse, even for life. It is evident that the free discussion of these problems must precede any such changes in the law as Dr. Anderson and others advocate, and we trust that our Association will take its part in guiding public opinion on questions of such importance to the nation.