PRT comment: Domestic murder sentences

Commenting on today’s announcement by the Ministry of Justice that it will increase the starting point for sentences for domestic murder, Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“The Law Commission is currently conducting a detailed review of homicide offences. For this reason, homicide was excluded from the terms of reference of the government’s Independent Sentencing Review. It is troubling, therefore, that the government has now chosen to pre-empt the findings of the Law Commission by announcing an increase in the starting point for sentences for domestic murder.

“Despite the welcome reforms introduced by the Sentencing Act, the prison system is still struggling to cope with rising prison numbers, fuelled largely by the growth in sentence lengths for some of the most serious offences. The minimum term for murder increased from an average of 13.5 years in 2003 to 22 years in 2023. The outcome of this proposal will be to add to that pressure.”