Beyond the Tariff: Human Rights and the Release of Life Sentence Prisoners PDF
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Beyond the Tariff Human rights and the release of life sentence prisoners Nicola Padfield Beyond the Tariff Beyond the Tariff Human rights and the release of life sentence prisoners Nicola Padfield WILLAN PUBLISHING Published by Willan Publishing Culmcott House Mill Street, Uffculme Cullompton, Devon EX15 3AT, UK Tel: +44(0)1884 840337 Fax: +44(0)1884 840251 e-mail: info(ctwillanpublishing.co.uk website: @www.willanpublishing.co.uk Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by Willan Publishing c/o ISBS, 5824 N.E. Hassalo St, Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA Tel: +001(0)503 287 3093 Fax: +001(0)503 280 8832 Website: www.isbs.com © Nicola Pad field 2002 The right of Nicola Padfield to be identified as author of this book has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting copying in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. First published 2002 ISBN 1-903240-88-3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon Printed and bound by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii List of abbreviations xiv Table of cases xv Table of statutes xix 1 Forms of life sentence 1 Discretionary life sentences 3 Mandatory life sentences 5 Detention at Her Majesty's pleasure or for a specified period 8 Custody for life 10 'Automatic' life sentences 11 Conclusion 14 2 Life sentences: in custody and approaching release 16 Some statistics 16 Serving a life sentence 20 Release under the Criminal Justice Act 1967 23 3 The view from Europe 30 The European Court of Human Rights 30 The case of Weeks 34 The case of Thynne, Wilson and Gunnell v. United Kingdom 39 Wynne: murders are different 51 The cases of Hussain and Singh 52 Summary 58 4 Parliamentary and governmental responses 60 The Criminal Justice Bill 1990 60 The Bill in the House of Commons 62 VI Beyond the tariff The House of Lords 65 Back in the Commons: the government reacts 69 Back to the House of Lords 70 Drafting the regulations 77 The Crime (Sentences) Act 1997: extending the procedure 79 Summary 81 5 DLPs in practice 82 Preparing for the DLP 83 The dossier 84 The DLP in practice 89 Decisions and outcomes 94 Key issues 98 Summary 107 6 Release procedures compared 108 Determinate sentences 108 The release of mandatory lifers 112 Mental Health Review Tribunals 118 Conclusions 124 7 The spirit of Weeks/Thyttne and the reality 126 The judicial function 126 What is a court? 130 The independence of the Parole Board 132 The 'court' must follow appropriate procedures 140 Recent developments in judicial review 144 8 Theory and practice 151 Summary 151 Back to basics 151 Developments elsewhere in the United Kingdom 157 Does the DLP pass the test? 160 Lessons for the future 163 Appendices 165 1 Extracts from the majority and dissenting opinions in Weeks 165 2 Sections 32 and 34 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 175 3 Sections 28-32 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 (as amended) 177 Section 82A of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 180 4 The Parole Board Rules 1997 181 Contents vii 5 Sections 72 and 73 of the Mental Health Act 1983, as amended by the Mental Health Act 1983 (Remedial) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3712) 191 References 195 Index 201 Preface This book is a study of the history and evolution of a legal body which came into being in England and Wales in October 1992: the Discretionary Lifer Panel of the Parole Board (DLPs). DLPs have the task of deciding whether and when discretionary life sentence prisoners should be released. The term 'discretionary life sentence prisoner' is generally used to distinguish those on whom a judge has chosen to impose a life sentence, because of the risk that the offender poses to the public, his or her 'dangerousness', as opposed to those (murderers) for whom a life sentence is mandatory. However, as we shall see in Chapter 1, the distinction between the various forms of life sentence is anything but clear-cut. Nor is it only discretionary life sentence prisoners who are now entitled to an oral hearing before a DLP. The uncertainties and inconsistencies in both current law and current practice are explored in this book. The roots of the DLP lie in Article 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides that: Everyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court and his release ordered if the detention is not lawful. As always with complex ideas expressed in simple words, the message of this Article can be interpreted in many ways. A book could be written on the meaning of Article 5(4), whether linguistic, legalistic or philo sophical. This book simply attempts to explore how the words have been interpreted in the narrow context of the release of life sentence prisoners in England and Wales, by the European Court of Human Rights, by the Home Office, by Parliament and by the English courts between 1987 and the present day. In 1990-1 the Government was obliged ('forced'?) to act on the European Court of Human Right's decision in Thynne, Wilson and Gunnell' that the system of review available to discretionary life sentence prisoners fell below the standard required by the Convention. But the book starts with two chapters which provide the context for later 1 (1991) 13 EHRR 666.
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