UK may revise murder laws

LONDON - The British government could adopt a US-style system of distinguishing between different types of murder after the government's legal advisers issued a report overnight (NZ time) condemning the current law as a mess.

If accepted, the current mandatory life sentence for murder would be changed and many killings currently prosecuted as murder could be treated as manslaughter.

Murders would be defined as either "first degree" or "second degree" and defences such as provocation and diminished responsibility would be taken into consideration.

The Law Commission issued the report as part of the first major rethink for 50 years of murder laws in England and Wales, where capital punishment ended in 1965.

"The law is not what the public thinks it is," said Commission chief Jeremy Horder. "It is confusing and unfair, and the judiciary have to adapt it to meet the needs of the 21st Century on a case-by-case basis."

Someone who killed a person after only intending to cause "serious harm" would be found guilty of "second degree" murder under the new proposals and would not face a mandatory life sentence.

Options suggested by the Law Commission will be put out to consultation before it produces a final set of recommendations for the government late next year.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said they would study the report in detail.

"We welcome the detailed analysis the Law Commission has done in this complicated area of the law," she said. "The ... consultation is the first part of the government review of murder and is the start of a wider consultancy process."

Critics say the current law is too inflexible, with all those convicted of murder given a life sentence with a recommended minimum term from the judge.

But opposition Conservative shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve said he was concerned by the proposals.

"Murder attracts a mandatory life sentence for good reason," he told BBC radio.

"Murdering somebody is a very serious matter and the rule is that a person shouldn't necessarily spend the rest of their life in prison but should be capable of recall to prison if their behaviour after release gives rise to concern.

"If you have a finite sentence of a number of years, you won't be able to do that."

The other area where a law change could have a big impact is euthanasia. People who commit 'mercy killings' would no longer be tried for murder

- REUTERS