News In Focus
9 April 2009
Government launches second consultation on prisoner voting
The UK Government has launched a second stage of consultation on whether prisoners should be able to vote, but has made it clear it will not extend the right to all inmates.
The consultation process forms part of the Government’s response to a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the current blanket ban on all serving prisoners from voting is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Justice Minister Michael Wills said the Government believed it would not be appropriate for all serving prisoners to be able to vote and the consultation does not propose giving all prisoners the vote.
“The Government has made it clear that it disagreed with the European Court of Human Rights ruling,” he said. “However, the result of the ruling is that some degree of voting being extended to some serving prisoners is legally unavoidable.
“We will ensure that whatever the outcome of this consultation, the most serious and dangerous offenders held in custody will not be able to vote. Prisoners sentenced to more than four years imprisonment will not be permitted to vote in any circumstances. We believe this is compatible with the court’s judgment and reflects the expectation of the British public that those guilty of the most serious offences should not be entitled to vote while in custody.”
Options
Responses to the first consultation – which considered broad principles on prisoner voting – have been published as part of the second consultation document, which now invites views on the practical issues surrounding implementation of the judgment.
The consultation sets out a range of options for prisoner enfranchisement, based on length of sentence and nature of crime.
* Prisoners who have been sentenced to less than a set period would automatically be able to vote (subject to certain exceptions based on type of offence). Prisoners sentenced to longer terms would not be entitled to vote. The cut-off points suggested are one, two and four years' imprisonment.
As an alternative, the paper suggests a two year sentence limit below which prisoners would automatically be able to vote (subject to exceptions as above), and in addition, prisoners sentenced to between two and four years could apply to be entitled to vote, but only where a judge grants permission in their specific case. Prisoners sentenced to four years or more would remain unable to vote.
Click here to view the new consultation document. The closing date for responses is 25 September 2009.