The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-02-27 00:00:00

THE CONVICT BONNER.

Mr. Walker inquired of the Home Secretary what
answer he had made to a memorial forwarded to him
from the Justices of Berkshire containing the follow-
ing curious statement :
That in the year 1831 one Richard Bonner was tied and
convicted at oxford, and sentenced to 14 years' transporta-
tion; that at the Oxford Lent Assizes, in the year 1851, the
said Richard Bonner was tried and convicted of highway
robbery, and sentenced to transportation for fife; that, in
1803, the same Richard Bonner was convicted at the borough
of Reeding, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment; that,
at the expiration of such last-mentioned term of imprison-
ment, the said Richard Bonner, having been previously
officially reported ass licence holder, was sent back to Mill-
bank prison, but, notwithstanding this, he was again (in
1858) convicted of crime in this county, and sentenced to
six months' imprisonment, and again, at the expiration of
that term, sent back to Milibank prison. Your memorialists
subunit, that, independently of the social aspect of the case,
it is a hardship upon the county of Becks that the convict in
question should have been a burden upon it for the space of
two years and six months after he list been sentenced to
transportation for life as above net forth.
Mr. Bruce said lie would read the answer he had
forwarded to the memorial; it was WI follows :
The burden of maintains a licence-holding convict during
his term of imprisonment for an offence connmitted while he
is at large is imposed by the exhaling bane upon the county in
which his c.olviction took place. Unless sentences for life
are to be absolutely and under all circumstances irremissible,
the hardship of which the Justices complain must occa-
sionally occur. Previously to 1804 the punishment of trans-
portation or penal servitude for life was inflicted noire
frequently than at present, and the liberation of life-convicts
on licences, after twelve years' imprisonment, was not un-
usual. Since 1804 the sentences of life imprisonment have
only been passed in the gravest cases, and by a regulation
made by Sir George Grey in 1868 the minimum time at which
each case could be considered, except under special circum-
stances, visa twenty years. Each case would then be con-
sidered on its own merits. The case of Richard Bonner
suggests a reasonable doubt whether a convict for life who
while at large on licence commits a fresh offence, thereby
proving that he is unreclaimed and irreclaimable, ought ever
to receive a second licence.
It was worthy consideration whether where a man on
ticket-of-leave had been convicted of a subsequent
offence it ought not to be in the power of the judge
to recommit him at once to Millbank or one of the
Government convict prisons. But, as the public inter-
est was very much alive to this subject, it might be
well to explain why he considered that there might be
special circumstances under which a person sentenced
for life might have his sentence occasionally revised.
A case which had occurred within the last few days
would illustrate some of the difficulties under which a
Home Secretary was place!. On the same day a peti-
tion reached him praying for remission of part of the
sentence in the case of two persons who had been
convicted for precisely the same offence, which was
an attempt to murder. The attempt was deliberate,

_
and in each case there was a narrow escape. The I
offenders were persons not previously criminal, but
were moved to this violent action by jealousy. They
were tried by different Judges, and one man, who had
attempted to murder his wife, received a sentence of
penal servitude for twenty years; the other, who had
attempted to murder a n,au of whom he was jealous,
was sentenced to imprisonment for life. With respect
to the person who had been sentenced to twenty years,
in the ordinary course of events he would receive a
licence after fifteen years and four months, provided
his conduct had been good. But, if that were so, it
was quite clear that the other person who had been
committed for life for a similar offence ought to have
his ease considered. It was obvious, therefore, that
there finist occasionally be circumstances which would
induce a man of upright feeling in the position which
he had the honour to hold to remit some portion of a
sentence for life.

The Tiinc.l,in a leader Nadi the above cases, Rays
:
If any lingering hesitation is still felt at modifying a time-
honoured practice of English law let it he COUSidrn,l that
we haw to deal with circumstances wholly different from
those of only stew years Nick slur forefather, had a very
summau method of dealing with criminals. They rendered
it impossible for then, to do either good or harm any more
in this world. When we abaadoned this rough-and-ready
method, we had a,, sheen-alive which forsome time answered
the same purpose so far at we ourselves were concerned. If
we could not send convicts to the next world, we were able
to send then. to another part of the present world, where we
were never likely to hear of them any more. When our
colonists, therefore, objected a short time ago to such persons
as George Roberts being allowed to escape into their settle-
ments, " wPhout any fault of the Government," and to
tim-
ploy their genius in bushranging, we were placed in a po-
et, ion we had never before encountered. We hail to keep
our criminals to ourselves, and, when we released them, to
let them loose in the heart of the tasintry. It was bat
justice to admit that we might well fail at Hest in handling
such a problem. Unless 1111 second sentences are to be for
life, which is impossible, we shall have for the future to deal
with a new and exceptional class of the population—that is,
with more or less confirmed criminals at large. Is there
anything unreasonable or us,-English in the proposal to deal
with this new and exceptional class in a new and exceptional
way ? We trust it will prove, from Lord Kimberley's
promised statement, that the Government recognise the
urgency of the question, and are prepared to answer it
effectually.