In his book ‘Murdered on Duty’ Cobb noted that the number of policemen murdered on duty was very much lower in the second half of the first century (1857 to 1957) of the existence of modern police forces in England, & that the explanation was, in part, improvements in the care given to injured officers. Today’s fall in the murder rate is similarly attributed to the ability of emergency services to stem huge blood loss and stabilise vital organs at the scene of violent incidents.
This change does however raise interesting, & sometimes troubling questions, especially in an age where we see no problem in revisiting judgments of the past, at the very least apologising for those which we now regard as mistaken, & in some instances issuing a formal pardon for those punished according to the standards of our predecessors. Timothy Evans was pardoned for a crime he was later judged not to have committed; some of those convicted of cowardice during the First World War have been similarly pardoned.
The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry paid attention to the question of first aid at the scene – though it was concluded that the young man would have died anyway - & considered whether racism played any part in the perceived lack of appropriate action.
Now we have 5 staff suspended from a school while an enquiry takes place into their possible failure to take appropriate steps to care for a boy who was having an asthma attack & who later died. We must wait & see what training we now deem it appropriate for teachers to have in the care of the varied illnesses which children may fall victim to while in their care.
If someone convicted of a murder can argue that their victim would not have died if they had received modern standards of emergency care, or if today the victim receives care that is judged to be below that of the highest standard, could they argue that the charge should be reduced at least to manslaughter, the verdict amended retrospectively as it has been in some of these other cases?
When it comes to driving & road traffic offences we have tended to move the other way. In the past a motorist might have ‘escaped’ without being found guilty of any major offence or crime, no matter how many people died or were seriously injured because of a moment’s inattention of the type of which all motorists are only too well aware could happen to them – often has happened to them without serious consequences. Now the press & the bereaved are likely to call for severe punishment of the guilty driver, ‘simply’ because someone died without need for further consideration of the degree of culpability on the driver’s part.
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