§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review his policy not to seek to make corporal punishment available to the courts, in the light of the experience of the Isle of Man where there has been an increase of 70 per cent. in crimes of violence against the person in 1979 and a further rise in 1980, as shown in the annual report of the Chief Constable, following the decision of the European Court on corporal punishment which was communicated to the authorities in October 1978.
§ Mr. MayhewCorporal punishment in this country was examined in 1938 by the Cadogan committee, which recommended its abolition, and in 1960 by the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders, which recommended that it should not be reintroduced. The reports of both these bodies cast considerable doubt on the effectiveness of this punishment as a deterrent, and we have no reason to question the validity of their findings or to assume that any increase in crimes of violence in the Isle of Man is to be attributed to the consequences of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights to which my hon. Friend refers.
In all the circumstances my right hon. Friend has no intention of seeking to reintroduce corporal punishment.