§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the research conducted by the Law Commission into the deficiencies in the English law of homicide. [159709]
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§ Paul GogginsThere are two recent pieces of work which the Law Commission have undertaken on the law of homicide. The first, published in September 2003, was entitled "Children: Their non-accidental death or serious injury (criminal trials)" (no 282). The research the Law Commission drew on in undertaking this work is set out in their report. We have built on the Law Commission's proposals in formulating the offence of causing or allowing the death of a child in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victim's Bill currently before Parliament, and the accompanying procedural measures.
The Commission have also begun work on the partial defences to murder, which reduce the charge of murder to that of manslaughter. They published a consultation document in October 2003 which sets out in more detail the research they have or will be undertaking on this. The consultation period closed at the end of January. We understand the Commission received a very large number of responses which they are considering and analysing. They are due to report in early summer and we await their conclusions with interest.