The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has asked the Court of Appeal to look again at the indeterminate sentences of seven more people. Courts handed down the sentences between 2005 and 2012.
All seven remain in custody. None received a minimum tariff longer than seven and a half years. All have now served well beyond it.
The group comprises one woman and six men. The youngest of the applicants was 17 at sentencing.
Each case involves either Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) or Detention for Public Protection (DPP). The referrals form part of the CCRC’s continuing review of IPP and DPP applications.
This year the commission has now referred 32 such cases to the Court of Appeal. A further 250 remain under review.
The CCRC looked at how the original judges assessed each person’s dangerousness and future risk. In all seven cases, it found a real possibility that the court will decide those judges gave too little weight to the applicant’s age and immaturity.
Young when sentenced
Dame Vera Baird KC chairs the CCRC. She said the commission would keep looking for IPP and DPP cases where changes in the law suggested a wrongly imposed sentence.
She said: “These seven applicants were all young when sentenced; all received relatively short tariffs, yet all remain in custody long after those tariffs expired.”
She pointed to recent Court of Appeal decisions as the basis for the referrals. She described the work as a significant priority, with more than 250 cases now under review.
Dame Vera also met UNGRIPP at the House of Commons this month. The group supports families of people still serving IPP sentences. Each person she met had a relative on an IPP.
She said some of those relatives had gone home but then faced recall. Others were now adjusting to life outside with support. Some had never left prison at all.
