Author Archives: Tom Nicholson

Tom Nicholson

Opinion: Prisoner voting rights

By Tom Nicholson | Tue 11th June 2013 - 8:55 am

Prison fenceThis week, the Supreme Court is considering the legality of the Government’s ban on prisoner voting. A majority of MPs are set against even limited suffrage for prisoners. The idea makes David Cameron “physically sick” and Jack Straw believes “those who break the law cannot make the law.”

Many supporters advance the same perfectly sound arguments, particularly from a human rights perspective. But a strong, pragmatic case for full prison enfranchisement can also be made by assessing this most populist of policies against the aims of sentencing in the criminal …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 9 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    I don't understand what the author is asking for here. Drawing attention to the situation on its own won't solve anything. What do we actually want the UK gover...
  • Jamie Dobson
    Thank you, Rose Runswick, for alerting me in the comment above to the Compass organisation and Dr Savage's paper. For me, this provides the bit of the jigsaw t...
  • Ying Perrett
    Thank you for sharing your experience as I am aware of how difficult and painful it xan be. Transnational repression is real and closer to home than one can ima...
  • Graham Evans
    Alex Macfie: Charles Kennedy has become a very troubled man by the time he was deposed as party leader. Had he recognised earlier that his alcoholism had become...
  • Tim Rogers
    Much better from SirEd at PMQs. Topical question getting excellent coverage and sticking the boot in at the same time....