My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for introducing this statutory instrument. The Labour Party supports these regulations.
As we have just had explained to us, the instrument introduces two additional statutory aggravating factors and one additional statutory mitigating factor in the determination of the minimum term relating to the mandatory life sentence for murder. The new aggravating factors are the fact that the offender had repeatedly or continuously engaged in behaviour towards the victim that was controlling or coercive and the use of sustained and excessive violence towards the victim. The new mitigating factor is the fact that the victim had repeatedly or continuously engaged in behaviour towards the offender that was controlling or coercive.
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The noble Lord, Lord Beith, very adequately covered the points made by the Secondary Legislation Select Committee on its reservations about the piecemeal approach to these various changes. The Minister answered those points and acknowledged the point made by the SLSC, so I will not dwell on that point again.
However, I want to dwell on some of the points that the noble Lord, Lord Beith, made in his speech just now. We all come at this with different experiences of the criminal justice system. As noble Lords know, I sit as a magistrate and have done so for about 18 years now. I see domestic violence permeate so much of the work I do as a magistrate. I see that in youth courts, family courts and adult courts. We are more conscious of it than when I first started 18 years ago. Of course, we are talking about an extreme here—murder—but it is absolutely not unusual for women, usually, to make allegations about partners or former partners, and that is a dominating factor in the cases which we hear in those various environments in which I sit.
I agree with the point which the noble Lord made about how these guidelines should not remove the ability of judges to sentence and deviate from the guidelines. Of course they should give reasons if they do that, but each case is different, and guidelines are guidelines, not tramlines, as we all know. That point is worth repeating. I also agree with the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Beith, that in these particular cases, deterrence is unlikely to affect the ultimate outcome. We need to be realistic about that. It is difficult to acknowledge, but it is reality, that different types of murder need to be treated differently, and the way the judge sums up the murder and gives the reason for the sentence reflects society’s view of the way that murder should be treated. So this is useful for judges. Of course, they make extremely difficult decisions, and guidance which is up to date and acknowledges the reality of many people’s lives, particularly women’s lives, is a good thing.
In conclusion, I will talk about sentence inflation. In fact, just before this session, I listened to the Lord Chancellor addressing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs about his general approach. I think it is fair to say that everyone in the room thought it was a breath of fresh air compared to some recent previous Lords Chancellor. There are some very real and substantial problems within the wider prison estate, and there is a problem with overcrowding, of which we are well aware. I was comforted by the fact that the Lord Chancellor understands these problems very well. As I said, the Labour Party is happy to support these changes which we are talking about in this SI because it is right that the overwhelming importance of domestic violence should be acknowledged and properly reflected in sentencing guidelines. As the Minister said in opening—I will just repeat the stat he gave—one-quarter of all homicides in this country are domestic-related. That is a terrible fact, but I suspect it has not changed for many, many years, although it has been acknowledged more only in recent years.