§ 37. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies in which colonies corporal punishment is still inflicted on convicted persons, and for what offences; in what colonies this form of punishment has increased in recent years; in what colonies native courts are empowered to inflict corporal punishment, and do so; and to what extent native authorities have been consulted or have expressed their views on the matter.
§ Mr. CookAs the answer is necessarily long, I propose, with permission, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. SorensenHas any attempt been made in recent months to consider the whole question of corporal punishment in colonial areas?
§ Mr. SorensenWhat action has been taken?
§ Mr. SorensenWhat does that mean?
§ Following is the reply:
§ The power to inflict corporal punishment on adults is vested in the courts of all colonial territories except for the following: Nyasaland, North Borneo, Malta, Trinidad, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, New Hebrides, Seychelles.
§ These powers are very rarely, if ever, used in the following territories: Cyprus, Zanzibar, Gambia, Brunei, Sarawak, Barbados, British Honduras, Leewards, Windwards, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, New Hebrides, Falklands, St. Helena and Ascension, Aden, Mauritius.
§ The power to inflict corporal punishment on juveniles is vested in the courts of all territories except for the following, which have agreed to abolish it or have abolished it: Nyasaland, Singapore, Cyprus, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, New Hebrides, Seychelles, Jamaica.
§ The following territories rarely, if ever, use this form of punishment for juveniles: Zanzibar, Sierra Leone, Sarawak, Gibraltar, Malta, Virgin Islands, Fiji, Solomons, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, New Hebrides, Tonga, Falkland Islands, St. Helena.
§ In general, corporal punishment may only be awarded for serious offences against the person, such as sexual offences and assault causing grievous bodily harm, but in one or two territories the power still exists for its award for such as the following offences: fighting, housebreaking, stealing, burglary, stock theft, injury to animals, breaches of expulsion and deportation orders.
§ With regard to the infliction of this form of punishment on adults, the only territories to show an increase in recent 129 years have been Tanganyika, Malaya and Bermuda. With regard to its infliction on juveniles, increases have occurred in Tanganyika, Malaya, Hong Kong, the Somaliland Protectorate and Northern Rhodesia.
§ Native courts are empowered to inflict corporal punishment and use this power in Uganda, Northern Rhodesia, Tanganyika and Nigeria.
§ Native authorities have from time to time been consulted and have expressed their views on the matter of corporal punishment, but it is impracticable to give detailed information on this point without first addressing inquiries to the Governments of the Territories concerned.