International Law

Convicted prisoners and the franchise

By John Hirst

Standard Note:
SN/PC/01764
Last updated:
11 June 2008
Author:
Isobel White
Parliament and Constitution Centre

This standard note looks at the current position regarding convicted prisoners and the franchise. Following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on 6 October 2005 that the UK?s current ban on all serving prisoners from voting contravenes Article 3 of Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Government decided to publish a consultation document on options for a change in policy. The document was published on 14 December 2006 and the consultation period closed on 7 March 2007.
The position of prisoners on remand is covered by the Representation of the People Act 2000.

For starters there's this "This standard note looks at the current position regarding convicted prisoners and the franchise". And this "At present prisoners serving a custodial sentence do not have the right to vote1". However, the current position is not the government's starting point. The government's position was rejected by the ECtHR. The government starting point should be where the ECtHR decision left off. That is, it is a breach of human rights to disenfranchise convicted prisoners. I feel it helps clarity if the government did not try to camouflage the true position. It doesn't do to try to mislead the public.

(More to follow)

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on July 05, 2008 (boomark / email).