Last week Mark Bridger was jailed
for life for the murder of five year old April Jones. The attack was sexually
motivated.
Bridger had said that he
accidently ran April over and that he could not remember where he had put her
body. He was convicted unanimously by the jury. He was sentenced to life in
prison and will remain in prison for the rest of his life.
A number of people I spoke to afterwards
expressed confusion about life sentences, saying that others who receive a life
sentence are told they may be released in future, even though they were
sentenced to life imprisonment. So how does sentencing for murder work?
The Sentence for Murder
Section 1(1) of the Murder
(Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 abolished the death penalty for murder.
It provides that convicted murderers will instead be sentenced to life imprisonment.
There is no other sentence: all murderers receive a life sentence.
Setting the ‘Tariff’
The Criminal Justice Act 2003
(section 269) provides that when a court is sentencing an individual to life
imprisonment for murder it must set a ‘tariff’. This is a fixed minimum period
that the offender will serve in prison.
The court must fix the tariff by
reference to the seriousness of the murder. The more serious the murder is the
higher the tariff will be. Schedule 21 of the 2003 Act provides guidelines for
what the tariff will be in certain cases. For example, the murder of a police
officer ordinarily attracts a tariff of 30 years. A murder with no especially
bad features will ordinarily attract a tariff of 15 years.
However, in certain cases, if the
court decides the seriousness of the murder is exceptionally high then it can
make a ‘whole life order’. A whole life order is where an offender is sentenced
to imprisonment for the rest of their life and will never be released. Schedule 21 suggests that whole
life orders are appropriate in cases such as the murder of a child which
involves sexual motivation and murder for the purpose of advancing a political,
religious, racial or ideological cause (terrorism).This is the order that was
made in the case of Mark Bridger. He murdered a child with a sexual motivation.
In these circumstances ‘life’ means life.
The Early Release Provisions
In all cases where a whole life
order is not imposed the court must order that the ‘early release provisions’
apply as soon as the offender has served the period of their tariff. The early
release provisions are found in Chapter 2 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997.
They provide that once an offender has served their tariff they must be
released once the Parole Board recommends their release. The Parole Board will
recommend the offender’s release if it is satisfied it is no longer necessary
for the protection of the public to continue to detain the offender.
Therefore once a life prisoner
has served their tariff they may be released if they are no longer a danger to
the public.
After Release
When a life prisoner is released
they are released on licence. They must comply with any conditions set out in
the licence. The life sentence still hangs over the offender for the rest of
their life. If they commit a further offence, breach their licence conditions,
or otherwise become a danger to the public, they can be returned to prison
under their life sentence. They will only be released again when the Parole
Board recommends it.
Conclusion
A sentence of life imprisonment
only means life in prison when the offender receives a whole life order. All
other life prisoners have a chance to be released at some point in the future.
However, the life sentence will remain with them for the rest of their life. It
can be reactivated in certain circumstances and they can be returned to prison.
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