§ 94. Dr. Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will propose an amendment to the law concerning cruelty to children so as 62W to increase the maximum punishment for parents found guilty of neglecting their children or of treating them cruelly.
§ 99. Mr. Hastingsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the many cases of cruelty to children in their own homes that have occurred recently; and what steps he is taking to secure early notification so that preventive action may be taken before irrevocable damage has occurred.
§ 104. Sir H. Roperasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will institute an inquiry as to whether the law needs strengthening in relation to the prevention of offences of cruelty to children and to the punishment of such offences.
§ Colonel Stoddart-Scottasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in view of the inadequate penalties recently imposed in cases of vicious cruelty to children, he will review the maximum penalties that can be imposed in the different courts, with a view to legislative action.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeAlthough the public conscience has been shocked by reports of certain serious cases, there is no evidence that there has been any marked increase of offences of ill-treatment or neglect of children, or that the maximum penalties provided are inadequate. Most offenders are dealt with in magistrates' courts, who can impose a sentence of up to six months' imprisonment.
But on conviction on indictment an offender may be sentenced to up to two years' imprisonment; and it is for those responsible for instituting prosecutions to consider in any particular case whether they should, instead of applying to the magistrates' court for summary trial, invite the justices to consider the question of committing for trial. It is also for the prosecuting authority to consider in cases where injuries are deliberately inflicted whether a charge should not be brought under the Offences against the Person Act, 1861, which provides even more severe penalties.
I do not think that there is occasion for a committee of inquiry or for amendment of the law. On the question of prevention, the measures taken to coordinate the efforts of statutory and voluntary services concerned with the welfare 63W of children neglected in their own homes were described in Chapter III of the Sixth Report of the Work of the Children's Department of the Home Office published last May.