Government to implement outstanding recommendations in Clare Wade KC’s Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review and Law Commission to review homicide law and sentencing

The Law Commission has agreed to take on a project reviewing the law on homicide and the sentencing framework for murder. The review follows a request from the Lord Chancellor and recognises the vital importance of making sure that the gravest offences recognised by the criminal law in England and Wales work effectively in the 21st century.

The Commission last considered homicide law almost 20 years ago. Changes in the law and society have made a new review particularly timely. For example, the review will examine the law on joint enterprise in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in R v Jogee and consider how diminished responsibility should be reflected in any new classification of homicide offences.

The Commission will also consider the sentencing framework for murder. Sentences for domestic murder have not adequately reflected prior abuse between the victim of the homicide and the perpetrator in the minimum terms set. Recent concerns particularly relate to gendered disparities for murders committed in a domestic context. These include the inadequate reflection of prior abuse in minimum terms for abusive men who kill their female victims, and disproportionately long tariffs for women who kill their male abusers. These minimum terms are defined in legislation, which is within the remit of Parliament rather than the Sentencing Council, which sets the guidelines for all other offences.

The Commission has already started work on a project reviewing defences to homicide for victims of abuse who kill their abuser. This project will continue under the umbrella of the broader homicide review.

The Lord Chancellor has also announced that the government intend to bring forward legislation to implement two outstanding recommendations in Clare Wade KC’s independent Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review. These measures are statutory aggravating factors for murders involving strangulation and those connected with the end of a relationship.

Clare Wade KC, Garden Court Chambers, said:

“I am delighted that the Government have announced that they intend to implement two of the outstanding recommendations in my review of sentencing in domestic homicides. Legislation which makes strangulation a statutory aggravating factor will help address the gendered nature of these offences. Killing a victim when she tries to leave the relationship or at the end of a relationship is the height of controlling behaviour which is what underlies most of these killings. I look forward to reading the Law Commission’s work on defences to murder for women who kill their abusers. I made the point in my review that sentencing on murder generally was something which has been long due for reform, and I hope that the issues which were analysed in my review will be fed into the Law Commission’s broader consideration of the law of homicide.”

Professor Penney Lewis, Commissioner for Criminal Law, said:

“I am pleased that the Lord Chancellor has asked us to conduct this review and revisit homicide law. The public are rightly concerned that homicides are correctly categorised, for example as murder or manslaughter, and sentenced appropriately. We will review homicide offences and defences, and sentencing for murder, to ensure that the homicide regime operates fairly and justly.”

The Commission aims to start the project in the new year, with a consultation paper to follow in due course.

This announcement has been widely covered in the nation press, BBC News, The Guardian, Sky News and The Telegraph.