Prisoners - do they have a right to vote??

[bluebaby]

Many countries restrict the right of those sentenced to imprisonment to vote in elections, for example, Russia and the United Kingdom. In Australia, prisoners are only entitled to vote if they are serving a sentence of less than three years. Eighteen European states, including Spain, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland place no formal prohibition on prisoners voting.

In April 2001, the British High Court rejected a case brought by a man serving a life sentence for manslaughter, who argued that the ban on prisoners voting was incompatible with the Human Rights Act 1998. In March 2004, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British government was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. As of June 2006however, there has been no change in UK law on the matter.


What do you think, should they get a vote?

 

[HannahGraceee]

I think if people cared about voting that much, they should have thought about that before doing the crime.. so for that reason id say no

 

[bluebaby]

I think i like Australia's idea of allowing prisoners to vote if their sentence is under three years. At the end of the day, they will be allowed out into society and should have a say on how its run. They should get postal votes.

Maybe if the prisoners get to vote it would increase our awful turnout rate

 

[Blah11]

No, they lose all sense of being a citizen when they commit a crime and are sentenced to jail.

 

[Neferet]

I agree with bluebaby... I like the way Australia do it. If they're going to be allowed out into a society, they should have some say about how it's run.

 

[blahblahblah]

I think that when a person commits a crime worthy of going to prison, they forfeit their 'right' to many things that people in our free society enjoy, voting being one of them.

 

[kiwimama]

NO, they are not worthy and active members of the community when they commit a crime and go to jail for it. They shouldn't have the right to vote when they commit a crime against their community.

 

[cherryglitter]

No they shouldn't. Like most people have said, they lose that right when they choose to commit crime and not abide by societies 'rules'.

 

[AppleBlossom]

No. When you commit a crime bad enough to get you sent to prison then you should be stripped of your rights until you've served your time

 

[coccyx]

Agree with all the above.

 

[Dopeyjopey]

I was going to come and say yes they should. They are in jail, the home office is in charge of that and there are different policies regarding prison sentences in party manifestos.

HOWEVER i think you all have very valid points so i lost the debate before even putting my tuppence in

 

[shayandbump]

I personally don't think they should be entitled to vote. They 'opted out' of being a normal citizen with citizen's rights when they decided to break the laws put in place. Once they've served their sentence and resume life as a normal citizen then of course they should receive their rights back.