If your sentenced to life should it mean life like until they die i think so do u?

Elliot Ness

If you convicted on irrefutable evidence and sentence to life, they should just execute the person the next day!! Save alot of tax payer money.

Bren

Life should mean Life. Huntley is showing the world how bad his life is now and how difficult it is trying to handle many years behind bars by trying to kill himself again.
He should rot away over 50 years.

nert

The law has recently changed to allow judges to impose a "complete life sentence" - basically, you'll die in jail. As it stands, they can reccommend a minimum term before parole is considered, but I read today in the Guardian, Prince Naseem, jailed for 15 months for driving at 90mph and crippling another driver served just 16 weeks of his sentence; released to be tagged. It's a farce.

summers23@btinternet.com

life should mean life

enzuigiriuk

Yes, without question else it makes a mockery of the sentence in the first place.

taketwo

it should

princessnicola23

yes i think so also!
why when there crime is so bad that they get life and then u get out b4 u die!
it is crazy!
i think the death penalty should be brought in for really bad crimes!

ragill_s1849

Yes, definately. 6 months should be 6 months, not 3. 5 years should be five years. And life should be life. Judges have absolutely no idea what real life is like.

meowsuff

Of course it should. But the legal bigwigs have pressured judges and the like into setting a minimum sentence before the convicted person is allowed to apply for probation..That's why the damned criminals always end up out or appear to have reduced sentences, and then reoffend etc..wastes everyones money really. Send them to prison and leave them there! Grrr!

Rob

Yes, unless you get 3 life sentences and then you have to stay after you die.

Maggie

Yes this should apply to all sentences they all seem to be cut by a third

timone

government policy we say one thing but mean something else

I agree, life is life

glitterx

yes ! If they say 2o years thats 20 years so why should they stay in for 20 years when they say life >>> unfair or what ?

bogatapd907

It really depends on what state you live in. In Texas, up until last year, when you were sentenced to life in prison, you were eligible for parole after 40 years. They just changed it in September, now if you are sentenced to life, you will die in prison.

Valli

The term "Life sentence" is outmoded. It means 25years but this was back in the day when life expectancy was much less and prison life was hard. For most prisoners a life sentence did effectiveley mean they would die there. Nowadays the judge can impose consecutive life sentences to try to have the same effect and this has worked with cases such as the Moors murderers and Kray twins. However, it would be simpler to just be able to impose a "subjective" life sentence meaning for the rest of that particular defendants life and give no chance of parole. Trouble is then we would have to civil rights do gooders campaigning like crazy and applications to ECHR would drastically increase.

thebigtombs

Life does mean life in the UK!

Yes there have been high profile cases in recent months where lifers have been released after serving only 1/3 of the minimum reccommended by the judge.

But a life sentance is a life sentance, if you commit a crime that carries a life sentance, when you are released from prision you are still on parole for life, until you die, so for the smallest crime you could be re-called and locked up for the rest of your days.

So if you commit a murder of a vulnerable person and then after seving 20 years get of prision, and you get caught speeding, or don't pay your council tax, or shop lift an item worth 50p, you could go back to prision to finish your sentance.

I personally think the system needs reviewing as murderers and rapists should not be back on the streets in just a few years, but the life parole does work and there are many cases that prove it.

jlostinfranceudith w

if you are sentenced to life then you must have taken a life so why should a life sentence not mean what it says

dreamwhip

It depends entirely upon the laws of each individual state. Some (most) states allow parole eligability after serving wtever portion of the sentence is required, but that doe snot guarantee parole, in fact few are ever paroled on the first attemt.

I live in Louisiana and I am an attorny. In Louisiana "LIFE MEANS LIFE" In Louisiana you can be sentenced (for a felony) three ways (1) death by lethal injection-----only for a capital crime and there are only two (1) First degree murder, (not 2nd degree, manslaughter etc.) & (2) Aggravated Rape, but not all aggravated rapes carry the possibility of the death penalty.
There are several ways a person can committ agg rape, tey can rape someone by use of threat of or actual use of deadly force with the apparant ability to carry it out, they can rape someone over thae age of 65, but if you committ agg rape under the element of: committing an aggravated rape upon a child age 12 or under, The District attorney can seek the death penalty. Before a person can be sentenced to death, there is a bifurcated trial (a two part trial) First you have the regular trial, just like in any other case, this is called the "guilt-innocent phase" If the jusry returns a unamious verdict of "guilty as charged", not a leeser responsive verdict, then after a one day delay, cooling off period, a second, much shorter trial begins it is called the "penalty phase" The issue is not longer whether a person is guilty or not, that has already been decided, The issue is aggravating factors vs mitigating factors. If the jury find that te state has shown at least or rather only one agg, factor then they must consider the mitigating factors, ie: Prior criminal history, age of the defendant, whether he was the primary culpable actor or was acting uder the influence of another, mental health, IQ, & a host of others. You do not wiegh tem, a person may have only one agg factor & 28 mitigating factors , but of the jury still beleives the appropriate punishment is death then that is how they vote. If they retun a unaimous vote for death, that is the sentence. If they are dead locked even at 11-1, he automatically gets life "without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

other criimes are either with or with out the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

Murder , both first degree (if not a death penalty case) & snd degree & some other serious crimes carry life w/o. So life menas life. They are transported to Angola (te worst prison in the u.s. to live out the rest of their life. By the time these ole timers do die at Angola, most have lost all contact with family and friends, or their family is all dead, anyway they are often just burried in unmarked graves in the cemetary on the grounds at Angola, with fello inmates in attendance.

The only way out of of a life sentence is for the Gov. to commute the sentence or agree to grant a pardon and in La., we have not had a Gov grant a pardon sonce our great gov (and I mean great, seriously, not sarcastically) Gov. Edwin Edwards, who is serving time in a fed prison, most likely for the rest of his life--raw deal

â™¥Scottishâ™¥Æ¸ÌµÌ¡ÓœÌµÌ¨Ì„Æ·â™¥Fairyâ™¥

i sure do,the law is a complete mess.

joseph m

Yes but its the self same people who complain about rapists paedophiles and murderersthat wont let it happen.

fishpaste

yep and 3 years shud be 3 years not 5 months then out cos thats wats happenin .....

Belinda B

If I disagreed with you would it make you change your mind?

zoe

yep

kris g

yes it should mean life. otherwise whats the point, it's not much of a detterent is it. not avin a go at murderers. (we all have our reasons)

styce

it does mean until they die

Daniel M

It's not "life" otherwise, is it?

Andy

This is more and more the case now, although when many people now still in prison for 25 years and more (and likely to stay there until they die) were sentenced, it was a plea bargain with the understanding they would get parole after 15 or 20 years.

After a few highly publicized murders by parolees (viz. the Jack Abbott case: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/jack_abbott/index.html ) governors and parole boards stopped releasing prisoners.

In addition, more and more sentences of "life without parole" have been handed down.

LIfe sentences USED to mean a fixed guaranteed sentence with probable parole and supervision for life. It's a pity that those who pleaded guilty (often to a lesser charge than first degree murder) in the understanding they would eventually get parole now can't get it. Many were teenagers when they committed the crime.

But what do I care. I've never been convicted of anything.

yeah well

Hi, dont be silly.
There is no such thing, and it shouldnt be refered to in such a way.
all sentencing is done in years, nobody says life anymore, youve been reading too much from the popular press, who are only trying to scare you..

If someone is given 5 years, but they cant be condidered for parole, until 3. thats what they serve.

Dont make fun of the system, you cant change it, but you can try to understand it.

I dont see what the big deal is about killing someone anyway, i mean, you get the same snetance for killing a tramp, as you do a movie star, well their money might get u a longer sentance, but i mean, surely killing say a 3 year old isnt as bad as killing a 40 year old? and killing a vagrant.. who cares..

Millions of people die of starvation, we dont hold ourselves, or the UN accountable..

I think life is over valued
I think prison is over rated, and a useless force, used to keep the proles happy

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: