The single offence of murder or manslaughter is to be reviewed and possibly replaced by a 'sliding scale' in England and Wales of "degrees of homicide". Whilst acknowledging the unique circumstances of every case and consequent requirement for sentence flexibility, will the number of murders actually increase following this reform? Currently, a murderer can expect life imprisonment on conviction. This reform could end that assumption, given the right "motive" the sentence would be reduced. Does this reform therefore require a working assumption that the offence is "First degree murder" unless demonstrated otherwise? How is that policed?
Should the sliding scale approach also be considered for rape cases? Again, many of the cases seem to have unique circumstances and the current lack of sentence flexibility could well be the cause of the current conviction rate of just 7%.
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