ABSTRACT
The disproportion between the punishments adjudged to crimes of equal magnitude was the subject of some observations in our paper a few days ago, but since they appeared, our circuit reports have furnished instances of another serious defect in the administration of criminal justice. The leniency of the sentences passed on persons guilty of the gravest offences, has been strikingly shown during the recent assizes in some cases tried at Liverpool. Acts of violence and brutality towards the person have been treated by juries as well as judges with an indulgence in itself not consistent with a due regard to the protection of the public, and grossly unjust when compared with the severity usually exercised towards offenders against the rights of property. The conjugal tie appears to be considered as conferring on the man a certain degree of impunity for brutality towards the woman.
