Life senteces

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

How long does a life sentence constitute in Ireland? And where can I find the relevant act online? Have googled "irish constitustion" and "irish law" and irlgov.ie - no joy

Cheers!

P.

Victor

In theory until you die. In practice, it averages about 12 years, but there are people still in prison after 30 years.

dats_right

Maybe 5 or 6 years ago the average life sentence was circa 12 years. But over the past few years the average has been steadily creeping up, as per Irish Prison Services Annual Report 2008, which states:

The average time spent in custody by these persons [life sentence prisoners] was 16 1/2 years[2004-2008]. This compares to an average of 7 1/2 years for releases between 1975 and 1984, just under 12 years for releases between 1985 and 1994 and just under 14 years for releases between 1995 and 2004

There is no statutory source for these policies, as full discretion for length of sentences is passed to the Minister for Justice once sentence has been passed by the Court.

Reloc8

A life sentence is subject to parole at any point. That said, if parole is granted, commission of a further offence of any sort is of course a breach and renders the convict liable to be re-committed on the life sentence.

It is probably the case that time served prior to parole has gone up over the past five years to bring it closer to 15 than 10. I wouldn't disagree that 12 may well be a current average but my sense is that current life sentences are creeping up on that before parole is granted.

And indeed there are a number of prisoners who have been in prison for 30 years and upwards.


edit : my post was made at the same time as dats right - and is eerily mirrored there

Jack Daniels I

why??what have you done!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Jack Daniels I wrote: »

why??what have you done!

Got into a discussion about how long Amanda Knox and her boyfriend would have served if they'd been convited of the same crime in Ireland!

dermot_sheehan

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/justice/prison-system/parole_board_of_ireland

legal eagle 1

On the topic of life sentences, I'm just interested to hear peoples opinions on whether the discretion to release a criminal serving a life sentence should be left in the hands of the Minister for Justice (following recommendations by parole board) or whether this power should be in the hands of the Judiciary?

NUTLEY BOY

legal eagle 1 wrote: »

On the topic of life sentences, I'm just interested to hear peoples opinions on whether the discretion to release a criminal serving a life sentence should be left in the hands of the Minister for Justice (following recommendations by parole board) or whether this power should be in the hands of the Judiciary?

Definitely not the former - nothing to do with the Minister or the Deparment.

I prefer the English system where the trial judge fixes the minimum term to be served. This leaves the determination of the actual time to be served in the hands of the trial judge and not some annoymous public service entity who can restrospectively and effectively overwrite the judge otherwise.

Two side points OP ;

1) Life imprisonment was the replacement for an early morning appointment with a hangman if the government of the day did not reprieve you. I think our last one of those was around 1954. The idea of such decisions being in the hands of politicians sickens me - look at what happened to Derek Bentley in England.

2) Life means life. You may be released after a period of time but only on licence as the state owns you soul for life. As others have explained above you may be liable to recall if you offend while out on licence.

murrayp4

Can you leave the state if released on licence?
I think thats what I'd do, just in case I ended up serving the rest of my sentence for being lifted on a drunk & disorderly