Prisoners' Right to Vote
Should all prisoners be given the right to vote or should it be limited only to some or to none at all? Provide a reasoned argument for your decision.
Examination Code: R12630
Module Code: 6FFLK020
Date of Submission: 28/03/2013
T he majority of democratic societies recognise the right to vote as an essential human right. Despite this, there are a number of countries where leaders believe that the disenfranchisement of prisoners, merely as a result of their imprisonment, is a justified and prerequisite manifestation of punishment. The United Kingdom is one these countries but the case of Hirst in 2005 has forced the UK to revaluate its position, and has seen the debate of prisoners’ right to vote resurface in light of this case. In answering the question of whether all prisoners should be given the right to vote or whether it should be limited only to some or to none at all, this essay will first discuss the philosophical backgrounds to civil and political rights in general and what happens to these rights when the law is breached. It will then analyse a number of different moral and legal arguments in favour of and against giving prisoners a right to vote and contextualise the arguments by considering positions in different countries. The essay will conclude by declaring full support of Article 3.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights that all prisoners should have a right to vote.
A basic right can be defined as an entitlement; a right to do something or a right not have something done to you. A person can declare a right when he or she makes a claim to the performance of somebody else. The right will be considered legal if the corresponding duty is owed at law and moral if the duty is morally enforceable. Whether it is a right to life, a right to vote or the freedom to act without somebody else’s permission, the underlying fact is that rights structure the form of governments, the content of laws, and the shape of morality as it may currently be
Examination Code: R12630
Module Code: 6FFLK020
Date of Submission: 28/03/2013
T he majority of democratic societies recognise the right to vote as an essential human right. Despite this, there are a number of countries where leaders believe that the disenfranchisement of prisoners, merely as a result of their imprisonment, is a justified and prerequisite manifestation of punishment. The United Kingdom is one these countries but the case of Hirst in 2005 has forced the UK to revaluate its position, and has seen the debate of prisoners’ right to vote resurface in light of this case. In answering the question of whether all prisoners should be given the right to vote or whether it should be limited only to some or to none at all, this essay will first discuss the philosophical backgrounds to civil and political rights in general and what happens to these rights when the law is breached. It will then analyse a number of different moral and legal arguments in favour of and against giving prisoners a right to vote and contextualise the arguments by considering positions in different countries. The essay will conclude by declaring full support of Article 3.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights that all prisoners should have a right to vote.
A basic right can be defined as an entitlement; a right to do something or a right not have something done to you. A person can declare a right when he or she makes a claim to the performance of somebody else. The right will be considered legal if the corresponding duty is owed at law and moral if the duty is morally enforceable. Whether it is a right to life, a right to vote or the freedom to act without somebody else’s permission, the underlying fact is that rights structure the form of governments, the content of laws, and the shape of morality as it may currently be
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