Should prisoners have a right to vote? [ENDS 10/06/2012]

[GommeInc]

I don’t know enough about what is and isn’t allowed in prison, could it be those still registered on the electoral roll and serving short sentences already use the postal vote?

Hmm, not too sure. When it was talked about recently, the only suggestion was to allow prisoners who are in prison for a short amount of time for smaller crimes to be allowed to vote :/

I'll have to do some research

[alede]

Why should they vote? They dont pay no Tax, they dont help in any way. My views on criminals they should do atleast 20 hours a week of community work. From picking up rubbish, to cleaning the chewing gums off the path.

Yes it can be done. All they have to do is put a necklace which is attatched to there necks and will shock them if they do something they shouldnt.

Yes will be putting the public at danger but why not make something so they cant escape.

They should have a credit system if they do so much good things they get something like vote, have a treat. Why should people like myself let them do nothing all day while i work hard to keep them in jail eating food that i would athe rbe spent on other things.


I say from the moment there in that cell lock them up and don't let them be involved in our country so no tv, no news paper. Make them read the bible.

Yhe money we pay on tax is so much and so much of the money is spent on keeping the criminals fed.


If youmread Holes or watched the film about the criminals in the dessert tat should be true in the uk. Send them off to a desert make them do something dig holes then next day fil
Them up. Dont let them live happy in prison with water and food on a plate to them. Voting is a no no. Bring back the electirc chair.

[Milarz]

Is there any point in them voting? Jailed people would have more of a chance of voting that prisoners, but even that, if ur locked away... don't really see the point.

[FlyingJesus]

My views on criminals they should do atleast 20 hours a week of community work. From picking up rubbish, to cleaning the chewing gums off the path.

Including those who are so dangerous that they would be required to have armed officers shadowing them, at a far higher cost than just paying for a street cleaner?

Yes it can be done. All they have to do is put a necklace which is attatched to there necks and will shock them if they do something they shouldnt.

Yeah shock collars that can actually read a situation totally exist

Yes will be putting the public at danger but why not make something so they cant escape.

Wait so... someone commits a crime, you then want them to be among the public knowing that it puts them in danger... yet also they will have idk some sort of magic cage that stops them going anywhere? How do you propose they do any work?

They should have a credit system if they do so much good things they get something like vote, have a treat. Why should people like myself let them do nothing all day while i work hard to keep them in jail eating food that i would athe rbe spent on other things.

So we've gone from discussing whether or not we ought to let prisoners have a non-essential legal right to taking away essential human rights such as food because you'd "rather not" have them fed. That is definitely fair treatment which every single criminal deserves, right?

I say from the moment there in that cell lock them up and don't let them be involved in our country so no tv, no news paper. Make them read the bible.

Again, does this apply to those serving a couple of months for tax evasion or something? You want to give permanent psychological damage through withdrawal to people who previously weren't at all dangerous to anyone?

If youmread Holes or watched the film about the criminals in the dessert tat should be true in the uk. Send them off to a desert make them do something dig holes then next day fil
Them up.

Yeah all those deserts we have in England. Human rights are for losers anyway right

Dont let them live happy in prison with water and food on a plate to them.

Been caught stealing clothes? DIE OF STARVATION AND THIRST! JUSTICE!

Voting is a no no. Bring back the electirc chair.

Wow multiple ways of murdering everyone who breaks every little crime, huh? We can't really "bring back" something we never used in this country but hey while we're at it let's just put them all in a pit with knives and let them sort it among themselves, that would be a fair and humane solution to all crime ever

[MissAlice]

Hmm, not too sure. When it was talked about recently, the only suggestion was to allow prisoners who are in prison for a short amount of time for smaller crimes to be allowed to vote :/

I'll have to do some research

Well I’ve done a little research. This applies to a general election, so unsure if it also applies to local etc.

Who is eligible to vote at a UK general election?

To vote in a UK general election a person must be registered to vote and also:
• be 18 years of age or over on polling day
• be resident in the UK
• be a British citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland
• not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote

Additionally, the following cannot vote in a UK general election:
• members of the House of Lords (although they can vote at elections to local authorities, devolved legislatures and the European Parliament)
• EU citizens resident in the UK (although they can vote at elections to local authorities, devolved legislatures and the European Parliament)
• anyone other than British, Irish and qualifying Commonwealth citizens
• convicted persons detained in pursuance of their sentences (though remand prisoners, unconvicted prisoners and civil prisoners can vote if they are on the electoral register)
• anyone found guilty within the previous five years of corrupt or illegal practices in connection with an election

Civil prisoners are people who are sent to prison for:

• not paying maintenance money to look after their children
• not paying money called fines or debts
• not paying money they agreed to pay if someone they know was on bail and
• did not turn up at court
• not doing what the court has told them to do.
• Civil prisoners may be allowed to vote if they have been sent to prison for contempt of
• court or for not paying a fine.

So it looks like civil prisoners can vote, whilst those serving a short sentence probably can't.

[FlyingJesus]

@alede; you tell me that I didn't read your post "good enough" despite having actually replied to every single part of it except for the line about tax, would you care to actually post a rebuttal with some logical points factored in or are we going to hide behind that wonderful phrase: "ITZ MI OPINYON" which seems to not ever require reasonable backing?

[GommeInc]

*snip*

How strange, I've never heard of a 'civil prisoner' but when you look up the definition it makes a lot of sense

Basically someone who is imprisoned under criminal law for not adhering to something he has done under civil law. It does make sense that these people would be allowed to vote, because their imprisonment was not to benefit society (the huge difference between civil and criminal law - civil = between two entities / criminal = an individual vs. the state).

I think the Government are going to allow short-term detainees to vote because they have to abide by the EU regulations, but not allow those who have committed serious offenses to vote. I think they're hesitant to do the former though, so that may never happen and it would be a victory for British politics and the legal system (and rightly so).

[MissAlice]

How strange, I've never heard of a 'civil prisoner' but when you look up the definition it makes a lot of sense

Basically someone who is imprisoned under criminal law for not adhering to something he has done under civil law. It does make sense that these people would be allowed to vote, because their imprisonment was not to benefit society (the huge difference between civil and criminal law - civil = between two entities / criminal = an individual vs. the state).

I think the Government are going to allow short-term detainees to vote because they have to abide by the EU regulations, but not allow those who have committed serious offenses to vote. I think they're hesitant to do the former though, so that may never happen and it would be a victory for British politics and the legal system (and rightly so).

Yes, I had never heard of a civil prisoner, shows how much we don't know

In order to be eligible it's clear you must be on the electoral roll, which is common sense. I wonder just how many prisoners are registered? Somehow I don't think the majority would even vote if they could.

So I do agree with you, probably the short-term ones who are registered will be eligible to vote.