23-11-12, 07:45 PM
Quote:i'm just speachless that the the human rights commision even entertained this!
I dunno I'm not really that bothered by this. But maybe it's been entertained becuase we are supposed to be a democracy and human rights are supposed to be universal.
Sure I can see how it upsets people, but on the other hand some people get locked up cos they haven't paid a fine, others might end up locked up on points of principle etc. So if you have a prison population, and you accept that prisons are supposed to be about reform, and even maybe some of those folks shouldn't really be in there, well who then decides who gets a vote and who doesn't.
Plus don't forget that governments set and amend laws (not quite as simple as that but you know what I mean), so if democracy and government have the power to lock people up, is it really a good thing that they can also deny them their democratic rights. You know how handy would it be to lock up your political opponents?
Further, there is nothing to stop a prisoner from standing for election, and I can think one MP who was voted in whilst behind bars. So if you can stand whilst locked up, surely those locked up should have the vote.
As for locking people up, I have in the past here mentioned several voluntary schemes by which with agreement of both prisoners and victims, the prisoner can substantially reduce their sentence, they have been piloted and shown beyond any doubt to dramatically reduce re-offending, but such schemes whilst effective in rehabilitation, making our country safer, giving victims the opportunity to confront the perpetrators and participate in their rehabilitation whilst saving vast sums of money just don't play well to Daily Mail readers and as a result ain't a vote winner.
Capital punishment, no no no. The UK used, has now been prevented from, but would again hang the innocent. Never again.
Give prisoners the vote? I mean why not?