when should life be life?

[livk]

As we don't have the death penalty in this country, shouldn't life mean just that? If the crime someone has committed is worthy of a "life" sentence then in my opinion that is what they should serve. Otherwise remove the term life from the sentence and give a clear sentence in other cases of 20, 25, 30 years or whatever. And if they are paroled then they should be on license and if convicted again of any offence, made to serve the remaining part of the original sentence and then serve any additional sentence for their new crime. Am I being a tad too harsh, un liberal in my thoughts?

[Drisgirl]

Life means life.Let them be frightened to bend down in the showers.Let them be afraid and have to watch their backs for the rest of their lives-bearing in mind most of the warders dont hear 'the commotion' until the damage has been done.Let them be in solitary slowly going mad - or more insane.Let them despise being incarcerated so much they take their own lives - Shipman.West Countless attempts Brady,Sutcliffe,Huntley.Hindley (now thankfully in hell).

Why give them the soft option - they are not worthy of any attempts at rehab.

Some prisoners are and we should concentrate on them and free up the prison service for true lifers.

[kipchik]

sensible answers to questions,quite a novelty these days i agree life should mean life but in this country it seems an impossibility!

[Lonnie]

With hard labour and chain gangs, let them know their being punished.

[jno]

isn't the parole/licence bit how it's already done? Apologies for my ignorance.

[noxlumos]

yeah anyone who is subject to a life sentence can only be released on licence. If they get into the slightest trouble they are straight back into prison. There should be a true life option in sentencing for truly dreadful crimes and by that I mean the murder of children and the very vulnerable, particularly sadistic crimes and untreatable paedophiles.What does particularly anger me is that some people get harsher sentences for Bank robberies than for raping a child, that needs to be urgently addressed and as a society we need to acknowledge that people should be set ahead of money.

[GMH]

When someone is jailed for life, I think that it should mean what it says. The person should be jailed for the rest of his or her life. If the person lives for another 60 years, then they should serve every day of that 60 years.

Ironically I used to think that when I was younger people who were found guilty were sentenced to life imprisonment got just that. It seems however that the reaility is that the sentence is around ten years.

I am talking about murder charges here. Manslaughter is more debatable subject.

[ludwig]

I agree with you livk. I find the term 'life sentence' incredibly annoying and wish they'd stop using it. Why can't we just say 'he was setenced to 15 years' or whatever.

[undercovers]

i think most people within the criminal justice system would agree with you - in fact there was a Law Commission report at the end of last year (i think) that dealt with just this issue. At the moment judges hands are tied - if you are convicted of murder this is a mandatory life sentence (this is a rule imposed by government) however i think we can all accept that some "murders" are less blameworthy than others e.g. consider the case of a mercy killing of your much loved wife after caring for her while she slowly dies of cancer as compared with a stalker / murder killing for pleasure - both commit murder but should they both be imprisoned for life� their whole life? If judges were freed to provide the sentences they see fit for the crime we could start operating a fairer system and it would also mean that political influences and bureaucratic mistakes can be removed from the system � so in conclusion allow the judiciary to do its job, and only allow those that have seen all the evidence and been involved in the case decide how long an individual should serve � be that a number of years or life (the rest of it).

[gessoo]

Totally agree with you livk

[Kenzie]

Life sentence is too good for them. Why should the tax payer's hard earned money be used to keep them in bed and board? Bring back capital punishment.

[:Ace:]

Personally I think because we don't have the death penalty we should do what America do and when the death penalty is not given we should give the criminal 100 years for example