Book Description

The European Court of Human Rights has described the UK's current blanket ban on prisoner voting as 'general, automatic and indiscriminate' and found it to be in breach of article 3 of protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR requires the UK to bring forward legislative proposals to amend our current legislation to be compliant with the Convention. The Government is putting forward three options to a Committee of both Houses for full Parliamentary scrutiny. The three options are: a ban for prisoners sentenced to 4 years or more; a ban for prisoners sentenced to more than 6 months; a continued ban for all convicted prisoners. When the Joint Committee has finished its scrutiny the Government will reflect on its recommendations it will continue the legislative process by introducing a Bill.