Many people will find it hard to believe that deep within key aspects of the Law of England and Wales there lie significant defectsa -a such is the extent to which our laws and justice system have been routinely described as ‘the best in the world’. This new analysis by reform group Modernising Justice demonstrates just how wrong this view is in relation to one of the most serious all crimes. Murder remains a common law offence based on an ancient and somewhat vague definition and beset with an approach to punishment still steeped in the fallout from the abolition of the death penalty. The authors demonstrate just why change is needed. Their arguments are set out concisely and with a directness not often found in legal debates. Their ongoing correspondence with successive Ministers of Justice is reproduced to demonstrate how cautiously the Executive tends to move in an arena where law and order policies can be judged (and elections won or lost) by popular responses to this particular crime.