UK: Murderers in Britain who plead guilty could receive a minimum sentence of 10 years or less under draft guidelines published yesterday.
The independent Sentencing Guidelines Council said proposed new rules - giving a one-third discount off sentences for early guilty pleas - could apply to murderers in exceptional cases. Killers who currently face a 15-year sentence - or minimum term - could get five years knocked off if, for example, they had given themselves up to police, said the chairman of the council, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf.
An offender could even get more than a third off their sentence in "exceptional cases" where they demonstrated "absolute candour", the guidelines said.
It was the first time guidance to judges on giving discounts to offenders who admit their crimes has been set out on paper. A sliding scale drawn up by the council offers a reduction of one third for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, a quarter after the trial date is set and a 10th after the trial has begun.
The discounts were appropriate because a guilty plea removed the need for a trial, saved money and saved victims and witnesses the stress of reliving the incident, said the panel.
Lord Woolf said that in some cases the draft guidelines would "almost certainly" allow a one-third reduction on the current 15- year standard term for murder.
"Someone who would get 15 years would now get 10 years," he said. "I have been involved in the criminal justice system for something close to 50 years now and throughout those 50 years, if a person gave a plea of guilty it was understood that there would be a reduction in the sentence.
"The sentence remains life imprisonment. What it will mean is that you will come up for parole earlier than you would otherwise." It would remain the case that murderers would be released only if the Parole Board was satisfied they were no longer a danger, the Lord Chief Justice said.
"Today's draft guidelines encourage those who commit even the offence of murder to take responsibility."