Murderers who enter an early guilty plea could serve just ten years in jail instead of the current 15-year minimum, under new sentencing guidelines publishing today.
In exceptional circumstances - for example, when a killer confesses to a crime the police do not even know about - murderers could earn greater reductions in their sentences, meaning they could be eligible for parole after only seven or eight years in prison.
The guidelines, from the independent Sentencing Guidelines Council, cover all categories of crime, including murder. Under a sliding scale of sentence reductions, judges could give up to one-third off a sentence for an early confession of guilt.
The guidelines say that in “exceptional circumstances” including a “particularly early admission of guilt”, judges could give reductions of even more than a third. It is the first time that guidelines on what are known as sentencing discounts have been set out on paper.
Advertisement
“Someone who would get 15 years would now get 10 years,” said Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, as he announced the draft guidelines today. “The sentence remains life imprisonment. What it will mean is that you will come up for parole earlier than you would otherwise.”
The guidelines look set to bring the judiciary once again into conflict with David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, who still has to approve the guidelines. Mr Blunkett introduced the 15-year miminum term for murder last year as the cornerstone of his criminal justice reforms.
The Conservatives, and some victims’ rights campaigners, attacked the new guidelines.
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “What kind of message will this send? Parliament should set the sentencing guidelines. David Blunkett cannot claim to be tough on crime if he will allow murderers to walk free after just seven years.
“With over 800 murders a year, up by a sixth in only five years, this reinforces the needs for punishments that deter killers.”
Advertisement
But Lord Woolf, known to be a crime and punishment liberal, said that the proposals would reduce the work of police and ease the trauma of victimes and their families. “Unfortunately, individuals are encouraged at present to plead guilty very rarely in the case of murder, possibly for historical reasons because it used to be a capital offence,” he said.
“The tradition used to be in murder cases that you always contest it. There’s no reason why that should apply. Today’s draft guidelines encourage those who commit even the offence of murder to take responsibility.”
The Sentencing Guidelines Council was established as an independent body last year to make sentencing more consistent and transparent. It is chaired by Lord Woolf and includes Lord Justice Rose, vice-president of the Court of Appeal, Peter Neyroud, the reform-minded chief constable of Thames Valley police, lawyers and victims’ representatives.
When the council was set up, Lord Woolf told MPs that it would not pander to “public clamour” or bow to pressure from parliament. He said the council would herald the end of “knee-jerk” legislation by MPs on sentencing.
Westminster insiders say Lord Woolf has used the council to effectively return sentencing to an even more liberal version of what existed before Blunkett’s criminal justice legislation introduced the new 15-year minimum.
Advertisement
Other guidelines published by the Council today also advise judges on a range of new sentences coming into force next year, including new schemes designed to boost public confidence in community sentences.
Community regimes will be much harsher and offenders released from jail halfway through their sentence will have to comply with rigorous requirements, monitored by the Probation Service, for the second half of their sentence.
The guidelines also look at the use of new sentences such as intermittent custody, or “weekend jail”, and new types of suspended sentence. Lord Woolf said that he believed custody was used too often and that today’s moves would help redress the balance.
“What we earnestly hope, as a result of these proposals, is that we will use custody more effectively and more appropriately than we do now,” he said.