Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord has not explained how a life sentence in the first amendment could in reality act as any greater deterrent than a second long determinate sentence. Nor has he dealt or attempted to deal with the astonishing figures that I mentioned, which show that we seem to have a thirst for creating life sentences that is entirely unique to the United Kingdom. It is not seen anywhere else in Europe. Nor, coming to the second amendment, has he explained why it is necessary to have another offence covering exactly the same ground as the existing offence. Of course it may be limited to handling a knife, but it is not confined to handling and clearly covers threatening, which is now given a new offence with exactly the same maximum sentence. However, I see that the Government cannot be persuaded, and therefore I must beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 154 withdrawn. Schedule 18 : Life sentence for second listed offence etc: new Schedule 15B to Criminal Justice Act 2003 Amendments 154A to 154D Schedule 18 : Life sentence for second listed offence etc: new Schedule 15B to Criminal Justice Act 2003 Amendments 154A to 154D Moved by