This book is a study of the workings of the Discretionary Lifer Panels of the Parole Board, the body charged with the responsibility for making decisions on the release of discretionary life sentence prisoners.

Nicola Padfield

Introduction 1. The background 2. The view from Europe 3. Parliament and the government respond 4. Panels in practice 5. Release procedures compared 6. The spirit of Thynne and the reality 7. Lessons and conclusions