The Changing Face of Life Imprisonment in South Africa
Life imprisonment (life sentence) is probably the most confusing sentence in South Africa as it does not mean what it says. If many people, including judges and lawyers, were asked for the meaning of life imprisonment they would say that it means that a person sentenced to life imprisonment spends the rest of his natural life in prison.
This article, written by Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi, investigates the meaning and use of life imprisonment in South Africa in four major legal historical eras: life imprisonment at the time when the death penalty was still lawful in South Africa (including life imprisonment as early as 1906); life imprisonment in the immediate aftermath of the abolition of the death penalty (1994-1998); life imprisonment following the introduction of the minimum sentences legislation (1998-2007); and life imprisonment after December 2007, when the sentencing jurisdiction of the regional courts was extended to include life imprisonment.