12.15pm http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1671425,00.html
Murder law reform plans revealed
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]James Sturcke and agencies
Tuesday December 20, 2005
[/font]Fewer murders will lead to mandatory life sentences under radical proposals published today under the first comprehensive review of the law of murder for more than half a century.
The government's law advisers suggested creating a new framework of first degree and second degree murder alongside a revised definition of manslaughter. New categories of homicide for specific offences - such as assisting suicide and infanticide - should be created, the Law Commission said in its provisional proposals.
Attackers intending to cause their victims serious harm but not to kill will be treated as second degree murderers under the new proposals, meaning they would no longer face mandatory life sentences.
"The foundation on which our proposed framework rests is that the most serious offence within the framework, and the only one that should attract the mandatory life sentence, should be confined to cases where the offender intended to kill," today's document said.
The second tier would include killings through "reckless indifference" to causing death, intention to do serious harm and cases in which killers claimed they were provoked, suffering diminished responsibility or under duress.
"The law is not what the public thinks it is," the law commissioner, Jeremy Horder, said. "It is confusing and unfair, and the judiciary have to adapt it to meet the needs of the 21st century on a case by case basis.
He described the proposals as a "ladder of offences" reflecting different degrees of culpability.
They have already been criticised by victims' groups because they could mean an end to mandatory life sentences for murderers.
Norman Brennan, the director of the Victims of Crime Trust - which represents the families of murder victims - attacked the proposals as a "watering down" of the crime of murder.
"These proposals will result in shorter sentences ... it will be seen by a number of criminals as a licence to murder, as a long term of imprisonment seems less likely," he said.
The Law Commission's report is the first stage in the radical review of murder laws in England and Wales. Options outlined will be discussed before the commission presents a final set of recommendations to the Home Office next autumn.
The report recognised that there would be two main objections to limiting first degree murder to intentional killings. It said some would argue it should include cases in which a killer realised it was "highly probable" that his or her actions would lead to a death.
However, the commissioners concluded that first degree murder "should not include cases where there was merely a risk of it happening".
"Taking a risk, even a high risk, of killing someone is recklessness and is very serious, but it is not the same as the deliberate taking of life," it said.
Objectors may also say it would be difficult to prove there was an intention to kill. The commissioners said they rejected this argument, and also proposed that first degree murder should not be confined to premeditated cases.
The report said of the proposed category of second degree murder: "We think that the second tier should cover cases where the defendant intended to cause serious harm, which in fact results in death.
"We think that the third tier should cover cases where the defendant intended to cause some, but not serious harm, which in fact results in death."
Last August, the Law Commission condemned the law on murder as "a mess", saying that a major overhaul was required.
Currently, everyone convicted of murder has to receive a life sentence, but the judge recommends the minimum term - or tariff - that an offender should serve. Those convicted of "mercy killings" receive far lower tariffs than, for example, people who have killed a random stranger.
A change for the better, or not ?
Murder law reform plans revealed
[font=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]James Sturcke and agencies
Tuesday December 20, 2005
[/font]Fewer murders will lead to mandatory life sentences under radical proposals published today under the first comprehensive review of the law of murder for more than half a century.
The government's law advisers suggested creating a new framework of first degree and second degree murder alongside a revised definition of manslaughter. New categories of homicide for specific offences - such as assisting suicide and infanticide - should be created, the Law Commission said in its provisional proposals.
Attackers intending to cause their victims serious harm but not to kill will be treated as second degree murderers under the new proposals, meaning they would no longer face mandatory life sentences.
"The foundation on which our proposed framework rests is that the most serious offence within the framework, and the only one that should attract the mandatory life sentence, should be confined to cases where the offender intended to kill," today's document said.
The second tier would include killings through "reckless indifference" to causing death, intention to do serious harm and cases in which killers claimed they were provoked, suffering diminished responsibility or under duress.
"The law is not what the public thinks it is," the law commissioner, Jeremy Horder, said. "It is confusing and unfair, and the judiciary have to adapt it to meet the needs of the 21st century on a case by case basis.
He described the proposals as a "ladder of offences" reflecting different degrees of culpability.
They have already been criticised by victims' groups because they could mean an end to mandatory life sentences for murderers.
Norman Brennan, the director of the Victims of Crime Trust - which represents the families of murder victims - attacked the proposals as a "watering down" of the crime of murder.
"These proposals will result in shorter sentences ... it will be seen by a number of criminals as a licence to murder, as a long term of imprisonment seems less likely," he said.
The Law Commission's report is the first stage in the radical review of murder laws in England and Wales. Options outlined will be discussed before the commission presents a final set of recommendations to the Home Office next autumn.
The report recognised that there would be two main objections to limiting first degree murder to intentional killings. It said some would argue it should include cases in which a killer realised it was "highly probable" that his or her actions would lead to a death.
However, the commissioners concluded that first degree murder "should not include cases where there was merely a risk of it happening".
"Taking a risk, even a high risk, of killing someone is recklessness and is very serious, but it is not the same as the deliberate taking of life," it said.
Objectors may also say it would be difficult to prove there was an intention to kill. The commissioners said they rejected this argument, and also proposed that first degree murder should not be confined to premeditated cases.
The report said of the proposed category of second degree murder: "We think that the second tier should cover cases where the defendant intended to cause serious harm, which in fact results in death.
"We think that the third tier should cover cases where the defendant intended to cause some, but not serious harm, which in fact results in death."
Last August, the Law Commission condemned the law on murder as "a mess", saying that a major overhaul was required.
Currently, everyone convicted of murder has to receive a life sentence, but the judge recommends the minimum term - or tariff - that an offender should serve. Those convicted of "mercy killings" receive far lower tariffs than, for example, people who have killed a random stranger.
A change for the better, or not ?