Mandatory Life Sentences and Executive Interference: R (on the Application of Anderson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (on the Application of Taylor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Stafford v United Kinqdom

Over the past months, the debate as to whether there is still a place for the Executive in the fixing of tariffs' for mandatory life sentence prisoners has been reopened both domestically and in the European Court of Human Rights. The facts and issues in the cases of Anderson and Taylor and Stafford v United Kingdom are set out below.' together with an explanation of the decisions and a comment on their implications for the future. The authors conclude that the decision in Stafford was long overdue and its inevitable implications on domestic law are not revolutionary, merely just.