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British Medical Journal, 1950, No. 4674, p. 311 (August 5, 1950).
This article is the Memorandum submitted by Professor Henderson to the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment. In his introduction the author refers to the larger problem of 'the sick society in our midst' which calls for the improvement of genetic, social and economic conditions. Punishment should be considered in relation to these problems as well as to the medical factors. The violent methods of punishment have little or no constructive value. Legal and public opinion, however, is apt to adopt a moralistic rather than a medical code and to be sceptical of the findings of the psychiatrist; in consequence, medical opinion should be stated in terms which can be easily understood and should deal with the actual facts. The great difficulties are that the symptoms are so often entirely subjective, and that we cannot, except rarely, point to any one specific causation as in the case of physical illness. The legal outlook is too greatly dominated by the concept of reason and free will, and by lack of appreciation of the fact that conduct is motivated by instinctive drives which operate at a much less conscious level. On the other hand, it may be argued that the medical point of view is too liberal-minded, concerns itself too greatly with the individual. Yet only individualization, the dominant truth of modern medical science, allows a more hopeful prospect in the future. The large army of recidivists is the best answer to the arbitrary-sentence method at present in vogue.
These general statements are then applied to the main groups of mental, nervous and character disorder. In the author's opinion, the plea of mental disorder is submitted too frequently in cases involving a capital charge, really as a plea ad misericordiam. In less serious cases the plea of mental disorder is not submitted often enough, largely because the accused prefers a definite prison sentence to prolonged treatment in a ment