What about the impact of the whole life sentence on a wrongly convicted prisoner?

BBC Radio 4’s ‘Moral Maze’ discussed the issue of whole life tariffs for prisoners. There were different areas for discussion including the possibility that an individual could be become a reformed character and the question arose as to whether that person should be released into society.

Considering that producers used Jeremy’s case as 'Headliner' for the show, they mentioned his case once very briefly. Not Michael Buerk nor anyone from BBC Radio 4 bothered to contact Jeremy Bamber or his legal team, or any of his campaigners to ask for their input on the programme which lasted for 45 minutes. This programme seems to have been brought about as there are three appeals currently awaiting a ruling in the European Court of Human Rights, the most high profile of course is Jeremy’s.

Areas which they did not open for discussion included the possibility that the person who received the whole life tariff might be innocent and what would the ‘moral implications’ of this be? Why did the BBC not invite anyone to speak on Jeremy’s behalf? Jeremy is the person who is affected mostly by this ruling and who has consistently maintained innocence over almost 26 years at the hands of a politically run judicial system.

There was much discussion about the victims of crimes and the impact upon them. But what about the impact of the whole life sentence on a wrongly convicted prisoner?

The BBC’s 'Moral Maze' falls very far short of having morals itself in its own promotion and ethics concerning the discussion topic, and at the end of the discussion had woven the speakers into a very poor labyrinth of un resolve, which is to be expected of course, but if the objective is not clear from the outset the conclusions drawn and the path leading to those conclusions will not be a balanced one.

Perhaps the ‘Moral Maze’ might want to open discussion on the social responsibility and duty to the public by the police and their ethics and morals in placing more than 340,000 documents under Public Interest Immunity, not allowing Jeremy Bamber to use these to further prove his innocence.

If you would like to listen to the programme click here