Author Archives: Tom Nicholson

Opinion: Prisoner voting rights

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 …

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

  • David Evans
    While I agree a lot with Johnathan and Cody's ambition, we have to accept that almost the only source of financial stability for most of the Overseas territorie...
  • David Evans
    This is excellent news, but is only a first step for our friends in the US on their long journey to heal the divisions in their country. The ever increasing ga...
  • Jonathan Parry
    Interesting piece, Cody. Historically, the main reason for the UK continuing to exercise residual powers over even the financially self-sufficient BOTs was tha...
  • Mick Taylor
    Particularly pleasing to me was the absolute landslide for Ilhan Omar in Minnesota district 5, where she got over 76% of the vote. This is the congresswoman Tru...
  • expats
    A real swing BUT, don't forget that the way the US system is set up, the POTUS still has the power of a mediaeval king.....