Law Lords consider key case today (21.10.02)

John Wadham, director of Liberty, says:

"It's wrong in principle for politicians to make decisions on sentencing and when a person should be released from prison.

"These decisions are for judges, who have all the relevant information in front of them at trial. Politicians are unlikely ever to be able to be scrupulously fair. They will always have one eye over their shoulder to check on how their decisions will look in the tabloid press and with their party's focus groups.

"The public knows this. Judges as distinguished as Lord Donaldson know this. It's time for politicians to admit to the reality of their position and accept that judges have more information and more independence, on which to make a fair and impartial decision".