The Sentencing Advisory Panel has today published a proposal that the Court of Appeal should issue guidance for sentencers in the Crown Court on the setting of minimum terms in murder cases.

Murderers serving a life sentence are released from prison only when they have served a period considered necessary to meet the requirements of retribution and deterrence (currently known as the 'tariff') and when the Parole Board considers they are no longer a risk to society. The Panel recommends, for the sake of clarity, that the phrase 'minimum term' should replace 'tariff'.

The Panel's advice is designed to help judges both in setting the minimum term for a young offender and in making a recommendation in the case of an adult. For adult offenders, the Panel proposes three separate starting points, reflecting the wide variety of circumstances in which murder is committed.

• The middle starting point, for cases with no significant aggravating or mitigating features, would be 12 years.
• The lower starting point, for cases where the offender's culpability is significantly reduced, would be 8 or 9 years. This would apply to a mercy killing, or to a case where the offender was suffering from a mental disorder or disability, or was provoked, or overreacted in self-defence.
• The higher starting point would be 15 or 16 years. This would be appropriate for murders where the victim was in a particularly vulnerable position; or for cases such as contract killings, multiple murders, politically motivated murders, or those involving sadism, gratuitous violence or sexual abuse of the victim. The minimum term could be significantly higher for a case at this level involving several aggravating factors.

For young offenders the Panel recommends a sliding scale, with starting points of 10 years for a 16 year old, 8 years for a 14 year old, 6 years for a 12 year old and 4 years for a 10 year old.

In all cases, for both adult and young offenders, the judge could vary the appropriate starting point upwards or downwards, according to individual circumstances.

Notes for editors

1. The Sentencing Advisory Panel is an independent advisory and consultative body constituted under sections 80 and 81 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The Panel is sponsored by the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department. It started work on 1 July 1999. Its function is to provide fully researched, objective advice to the Court of Appeal to assist the Court when it frames or revises sentencing guidelines.

2. When a person aged 21 or over is convicted of murder, the only sentence available to a court in England and Wales is one of life imprisonment. When the offender is aged 18-20, the equivalent sentence is 'custody for life', and for an offender aged 17 or under it is 'detention at Her Majesty's pleasure'. The 'tariff' or 'punitive term' is the minimum period which the offender must spend in custody before being considered by the Parole Board for release on licence. In the case of an offender aged 17 or under, the tariff is set in open court by the trial judge, and is treated as a 'sentence' which may be appealed by the defendant, or be the subject of a reference from the Attorney General if he considers it to be unduly lenient. In the case of an adult offender, the trial judge makes a private recommendation on the tariff to the Lord Chief Justice, who in turn puts his recommendation to the Home Secretary, with whom the final decision rests.

3. In 2000, 336 defendants (including both adults and juveniles) were tried for murder in England and Wales, and 261 of them were found guilty and sentenced. The Lord Chief Justice's Practice statement (Life sentences for murder) [2000] 2 Cr App R 457 sets a starting point of 14 years as the tariff for a case with no aggravating or mitigating factors, and lists the factors which might suggest either a higher or a lower than normal tariff in an individual case.

4. During the year 2000, 119 adult offenders were released from life sentences for murder. The average tariff was 12.6 years. The lowest tariff was 7 years (this offender was released 10 years after sentence) and the highest tariff was 30 years (this offender was released 31 years after sentence).

5. Copies of the Panel's advice may be obtained from: Gareth Sweny, Sentencing Advisory Panel, Room 101, Clive House, Petty France, London SW1H 9HD (telephone 020 7271 8336); e-mail sap-secretariat@beeb.net). The advice is also available on the Panel's website: http://www.sentencing-advisory-panel.gov.uk The website has been fundamentally redesigned, to make it more accessible and easier to navigate.