HC Deb 15 July 1974 vol 877 cc46-7W
Sir Frederic Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is prepared to introduce legislation to provide for a referendum on the reintroduction of corporal punishment for crimes of violence; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

No. Corporal punishment was abolished as a judicial penalty as long ago as 1948, and before that had not been generally available for crimes of violence since 1861. The question of its reintroduction was examined in 1960 by the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders, which advised against it. The Government have no plans to reopen the issue.