Mercy killings: it is time to address the legal lottery.

摘要

One mother helps her seriously ill daughter to die by injecting an overdose of morphine at her daughter's request, and receives a conditional discharge; another injects her comatose son with heroin and is sentenced to serve a minimum of nine years in prison for his murder. At first glance, this is an unflattering snapshot of English criminal law, revealing an unpredictable and unfair system. But, on closer inspection, there may be grounds for treating these cases differently - although there is a strong case for re-examining the laws.