§ 14. Mr. BERNAYSasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many boys under 14 were sentenced to corporal punishment in 1933; and whether he is satisfied with the response by magistrates to the official discouragement of the Home Office of the frequent employment of this form of punishment?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir John Gilmour)Statistics for 1933 are not yet available. A circular letter about the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933 was sent by the Home Office to Courts of Summary Jurisdiction in August last, and in this circular it was pointed out that while in the new Act the power to order a child to be whipped is retained, the practice of the most experienced juvenile courts for many years shows that these courts rarely or never need to exercise this power. The question when use shall be made of any form of penalty authorised by law must be one for the discretion of the justices.