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AEQUANIMrrAS

8a-.iad. Med. Ass. 3. 99

AFOHANIMITAS
NON-CAPITAL MURDER The zest is gone from current murder mysteries. What's the fun if the butler is revealed as the inadvertent killer of the heir to the estate? He'll only get 20 years in the penitentiary sick bay. with 13 years off for good behaviour. In most jurisdictions he'd have to rub out a cop to get the chair or the noose. Permitting the unmasked villain to blow his brains out or swallow the cyanide capsule is a lapse from the conventions allowed by authors and fictional detectives that has always struck me as unsatisfactory. I know that this lame ending is usually reserved for those instances where a conviction is uncertain, but it does not satisfy my feeling that justice must seem to have been done. How much less satisfying is the verdict and sentence for noncapital murder. The court sequence in such actions will consist of psychoanalytical ruminations 'about broken homes, unsympathetic fathers and the nefarious practice of selling guns by mail order. The surprise witness who overheard the plot will no longer return from his vacation where he received no news and was unaware that there was a trial going on. Instead, the bloodstained hands of the killer will be washed with the detergent of irresistible unpulse. Are we becoming soft in our attitude towards malefactors in fiction and in real life? Is it necessary to assassinate a King or a Kennedy before the extreme penalty is applied? The wordy tomes which emerge after the trials are, to me, no substitute for the tales of Lord Peter Wimsey or Inspector Alleyn of Scotland Yard. Only the other day in my town a young man killed his wife and his three children. His weapons included an axe, a hammer and a carving knife and the scene was described as a bloody shambles. He botched the job of cutting his own radial arteries and the police had no difficulty in picking him up. Remanded for trial, he stands accused of non-capital murder. I am told that non-capital murder is not, as one might expect, a killing committed beyond the boundaries of Ottawa, but homicide which is unplanned, unpremeditated, spontaneous and off the cuff. It must be very difficult to decide when a mortal act is committed on the spur of the moment and not previously considered but postponed for the propitious occasion. I believe that the bank robber who shoots the teller is likely to be charged with capital murder because the incident occurred during the course of another crime. He may protest that he did not even know the deceased and was unaware that the gun was loaded. The circumstances rather than the act are likely to be more important in this instance.

The fellow who shoots the neighbour he finds in bed with his wife is likely to face a non-capital charge, unless it is suggested that he misled the paramours about that trip to Hamilton and returned with malice in his heart. It is unnecessary for me to say that I am not learned in the law. If I seem to sigh for the doctrine of eye for eye and tooth for tooth, it is not that I am either bloodthirsty or reactionary. It's just that I am confused at the current complexities of killings and apprehensive of their effect on the roman policier. It would be unfortunate for the whodunit industry if the traditional conclusion of a talk with the chaplain just before the long walk would predictably occur only when the victims were members of the R.C.M.P. The paperbacks I pick up at the airport are pale reflections of the real thing. I find myself rereading Dorothy Sayers, Marjorie Allingham and Mary Stewart, whose works close with the judge puffing on the black cap or with the hangman preparing the drop at Wormwood Scrubs. After all, there are traditions to be upheld and the amenders of the Criminal Code should consider their responsibilities to the world of literature. A.D.K.

ASSOCIATION NEWS
THIS WILL COST YOU PLENTY An important element in the C.M.A.-C.E.S.O. plan of medical aid to the West Indies is our ability to establish a pool of volunteer Canadian physicians ready to contribute two months of their time and skill without hire, gain or hope of reward. What's more, your service may be required at a period which may be less than convenient for you. During your absence your overhead is likely to continue and you may be further out of pocket for family expenses incurred in your area of service. Despite a formidable array of financial and other impediments we are confident that a groundswell of goodwill exists towards our Caribbean neighbours and that Canadian volunteers of all professional qualifications will not be lacking. In fact, until the program gets rolling the supply may exceed the demand from the islands. When you are contemplating your own personal contribution, spare a thought for the computers at Taxation Data Centre. Those monsters will detect a reduction in the taxable income of Canadian volunteers, but in total it is unlikely to affect adversely the income of the Department of National Revenue. If you would like to offer your services or if you desire to have further information, write to the C.M.A.-C.E.S.O. Plan, 150 St. George Street, Toronto 5.