Murder: rise in guilty pleas predicted as two-tier offence proposed to replace 'archaic' system

Criminal law practitioners have welcomed the Law Commission's proposals to overhaul the 'archaic and misleading' homicide laws with a US-style two-tier offence of murder, predicting that the changes could lead to an increase in guilty pleas.


In a consultation paper launched at the end of last year, the commission outlined a new legal framework of first and second-degree murder, with a revised and more limited offence of manslaughter. Under the plans, only those who intended to kill would be convicted of first- degree murder and receive a mandatory life sentence.


Those whose actions were intended to cause serious harm but not kill would be treated as second-degree murder. The second tier would also include killings through 'reckless indifference' to causing death, and cases where the defendant was provoked, suffered diminished responsibility or acted under duress.


Manslaughter would be confined to cases of killing by gross negligence or where a criminal act was done with the intention to cause some harm, or with an awareness that harm may be caused.


The commission condemned the current law as 'a mess' and its chairman, Sir Roger Toulson, described it as 'archaic and misleading'.


He added: 'The proposals are in no sense set in stone. We want to know what people think and why. The aim is a coherent, just framework that carries a wide spectrum of support and which will work in practice.'


Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: 'While there may be some, particularly victims' groups, who have a reluctance to increase judicial discretion, we could find that the creation of a second-degree murder charge without a mandatory life sentence could lead to more defendants pleading guilty.'


John Cooper, a criminal law barrister at 25 Bedford Row, London, welcomed the greater judicial discretion in sentencing and the changes proposed for verdicts of infanticide.


'It will ensure that individuals who were previously acquitted because of the inflexibility of the murder regime will now face appropriate treatment,' he said.


After a three-month consultation period, the commission will present a final set of proposals to the Home Office in the autumn.