In
the UK a life prison sentence usually means that the convicted person will
spend, on average, 14 years behind bars.
But should life mean life?
Convicted murderers are now challenging their
sentences in the European Court of Human Rights, as they claim that the “whole
life” tariffs which have been imposed in their cases are contrary to their
human rights.
Jeremy Bamber, Peter Moore and Douglas
Vinter were all convicted for murder and therefore sentenced to life
imprisonment, which is the mandatory sentence for the crime. This has been the
sentence since death penalty was abolished in 1969. However, as is well-known, life does not
always mean life, and when a judge passes sentence he also sets a tariff, which
is the number of years before which the prisoner will be eligible to be
considered for early release on licence.
In the case of Peter Coonan the
so-called “Yorkshire Ripper” who was convicted for killing 13 women in 1981 and
attacked several others. In that case, in 1996 the Home Secretary asked for a
recommendation from the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, as to the minimum
tariff. He responded:
“I have no doubt that this is one of
the rare cases where the offences were so heinous and the perpetrator so
dangerous that life should mean life.”
I feel that when the crimes have been
horrific and there is no evidence of remorse of an individual, why shouldn’t they
get life? Why should those convicted of truly
criminal and awful crimes be entitled to human rights? You have breached yours
by being immoral why should you be entitled to the ‘right to life’ when you can’t
respect societies rights. As a utilitarian I believe in the greater good for
the greater good for the greater number of people. Why should a criminal be
allowed to walk free and risk the people of this countries liberty when they
show no genuine remorse for their actions?
Should
life mean life? Should those who commit serious crimes, go to jail for the rest
of their lives? Or do you think that criminals can be rehabilitated and
released back into society?
Hi Chloe you mentioned that on average a life conviction is 14 years custody. JENGbA's research indicates the average for for a Joint Enterprise murder is 20 years even though the evidential and conviction threshold is considered to be much lower than in one-on-one murder cases. And due to lack of pre-parole courses plus the failure by many Joint Enterprise murder convicts to meet parole requirements of genuine remorse for the index offence, JENGbA predicts significant numbers of lifers may be in custody for far longer than their minimum terms. Who gets to profit from this? The Prison Industry, who are set to make millions from the privatisation of custody services. It might be interesting to follow the money trail, Chloe...then look at the directorships and patronage of G4S etc to see who is making a "killing" out of Law n' Order
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