Proposal to remove mandatory life term will get heated response

IF CRIME and the operation of the criminal justice system was not already a topic high on the public agenda, it certainly should be over the next few days.

Later today, the Law Reform Commission will turn up the heat on the debate about crime by publishing a report containing a number of controversial recommendations.

Most likely to arouse a certain degree of ire is the LRC’s proposal to abolish the mandatory life sentence for persons convicted of murder — a legal standard common to many countries in the developed world.