The view from Europe

Two cases decided by the European Court of Human Rights forced the British government to change the system of release, at least for discretionary life sentence prisoners. The first, Weeks v. United Kingdom, ¹ did not have the impact of the second, Thynne, Wilson and Gunnell v. United Kingdom, ² which is normally perceived as the ‘key’ case. Before examining these two cases, it is important to have a brief look at the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), as the backdrop against which the cases should be evaluated. When one looks at the Convention itself and the evolving European jurisprudence, it becomes evident that neither the decision in Weeks nor that of Thynne could have been a great surprise to the British government. Perhaps more interesting is why the government resisted these developments: but the government's response will be reserved largely for Chapter 4. In this Chapter we visit the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.