Long sentences - Crime does not pay

Families whose loved ones have been murdered and the victims of the heinous crime of rape will welcome the revelation that killers, rapists, and those guilty of manslaughter generally spend an average of 18 years in jail before being released.

Today’s front-page report will help ease the minds of people who believe the revolving doors of Ireland’s prisons also apply to ‘lifers’. While the term “life imprisonment” is something of a misnomer, it is reassuring that the perpetrators of the most serious crimes are seldom released as early as critics of the Prison Service might believe.

If the steadily increasing terms of mandatory life sentences help deter killers and rapists, it will be a welcome boon for Irish society.