The Law Society has called on the government to look at introducing a three-tier system of sentencing for murder, after research published today revealed a lack of public support for the current mandatory life sentence.

The report, by Barry Mitchell of Coventry University and Julian Roberts for the Law Faculty at the University of Oxford, found that the public believe different scenarios warrant different sentences, with support for life imprisonment in the most serious cases.

The researchers, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, carried out 1,027 interviews and six focus groups.

They concluded that, if the law is to correspond to public opinion, serious consideration should be given to restructuring the law of murder so that the mandatory life sentence is retained only for particularly serious cases.

The Law Commission recommended this approach in 2006, but the then Labour government took no action on it. Backing the Law Commission’s recommendation for a three-tier system, Law Society president Linda Lee said: ‘To have one sweeping sentence for all cases of murder is clearly inappropriate, and the Law Society is actively trying to have the system assessed.

‘A tiered system of first degree murder, which would carry a mandatory life sentence, second degree murder and manslaughter would ensure more people are charged appropriately.’

Lee said mandatory life sentences should be reserved for only the most serious murder cases.

The coalition government has committed to publishing a green paper on sentencing and rehabilitation some time this autumn.