Public Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public Law - Essay Example In United States, the Supreme Court argued that those penalized for lifetime imprisonment, are maybe disenfranchised for failing to exercise their right to vote, but that remain part of the punitive measures. 2 Karlan (2002), like other advocate, contend that â€Å"lifetime disenfranchisement as a punishment is extremely disproportionate to the offenses for which it often imposed.† 3 To some extent, this view was reverberated in the controversial case Hirst v UK 20054, where a felon raised a question of law in the international court and assailed that UK’s electoral policy is in conflict to international human rights standards and to universally adopted principles for total rehabilitation or reformation of felons. 5 1. Hirst: Rising for his rights Hirst6 was penalized for lifetime imprisonment in 1980 for the commission of manslaughter based on medical evidences presented for adjudication. His tariff expired in 1994 but he remained in detention because the Parole Board considered him dangerous. Barred to vote under Representation of the People Act 1983 as a felon, he challenged the law based on Human Rights Act 1998 and argued that the provision prohibiting him to exercise his right to suffrage is contrary to European Convention on Human Rights. However, at the Divisional Court in 2001, Lord Justice Kennedy7 decided that prisoners forfeited the right to participate in political affairs for his country because â€Å"removal from society means removal from the privileges of society†. 8 Such incarceration and subsequent depravity of practicing his civil rights, particularly the right to vote, is also practiced in Europe, western countries and in other democratic Asian nations. In UK, this policy take its historic root from Section 4 of the Representation of the People Act 1969 that was substantially inspired by Forfeiture Act 1870, a law that impose â€Å"civic death† for convicted criminals. 9 True, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) stipulated the protection of every citizen for opportunity regardless of distinction and to participate in the conduct of public affairs including election. But on the same context, the populace is also legally protected for security, an inherent right for self- preservation from harm and against dangerous and convicted criminals. This indeed demand advocates to imperatively balance the appreciation of rights. For while prisoners, deprived of liberty, are treated humanely with his inherent dignity as a person, but his other civil rights are temporarily curtailed with the intent of rehabilitating and reforming him from grievous offense until he will be mainstream back to the society after completing his sentence.† 10 Inside the penology’s confines, a felon may require expert therapy to diagnose his problems and needs, inclusive of psychological, spiritual and medical aspects while in the process of reformation. 11 Clearly, it is the intent of the state to penalize a convicted felon by suspending some of his civil rights to reform him but legal luminaries