Life Imprisonment

(asked on 4th September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average time those currently serving mandatory life sentences will spend in prison.


Answered by
Lord Bellamy Portrait
Lord Bellamy
This question was answered on 18th September 2023

Sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent judiciary. Release from mandatory life sentences is determined by the Parole Board, when the Board is satisfied that detaining the offender is no longer necessary for the protection of the public.

While we do not have an estimate of the average time those currently in prison on mandatory life sentences will serve, we do publish average time served, based on release data, on an annual basis. Table below.

Mandatory life

Mean time served (years)

2002

14

2003

15

2004

14

2005

14

2006

14

2007

16

2008

16

2009

17

2010

16

2011

16

2012

16

2013

17

2014

17

2015(1)

17

2016

16

2017

17

2018

17

2019

18

2020

17

2021

17

2022

18

(1) Due to improvements in IT systems, the 2015 prison admissions data is now taken from a different source and, for statistical reporting purposes only, are produced using a different method. The 2015 figures from both the old and new systems have been presented to aid comparison.

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