Abstract
ABSTRACT For senior British officials in late colonial Burma, an important part of the explanation for the province’s soaring murder rate was the reluctance and often outright refusal of Burmese witnesses to murder to engage with the police and courts in bringing killers to justice. That reluctance or refusal, it was said, substantially reduced the arrest and in particular the conviction rate in murder cases, thereby weakening the deterrent impact of the law. British officials explained the reluctance or refusal in terms of alleged weaknesses in the Burmese character and social organisation. In contrast, this paper argues that the Burmese had strong reasons for failing to engage, in that they could have little confidence that the colonial police and courts would in fact bring murderers to justice. Self-help justice, revenge-killing, was a far more certain path. The final section of the paper examines a number of measures considered or implemented by the British colonial administration in the 1920s and 1930s to curb the murder count, measures which in fact merely exposed the Burma administration’s limited reach and indeed ambition in seeing murderers caught and convicted.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.