News Prisoners to get the vote?

[Gwadien]

Yep - Touchy subject really - Give mass murderers the vote? - Or give small-scale Political activists IE- Hippies. the vote?

In my eyes, if they don't get the vote whilst in prison - they're pretty much stripping their vote so a extremist group doesn't get many votes, think about it.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

If someone performs a criminal act and gets locked away for it, they've already indicated they put their own needs above that of society. They've been caught and taken out of society for the protection of that society as well as punishment to the individual. Therefore no reason they should get to vote on how that society is run while they are serving their punishment.

While they're in the clink they've lost the right to whine. In a social sense, they're in stasis. I see no need to altar that until their time is served.

Afterwards is a different matter but thats not what we're discussing.

 

[cHodAX]

Roo hit the bullseye.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Roo hit the bullseye.

Well, disagree there, but each to their own.

 

[Gwadien]

Well, disagree there, but each to their own.

You would, you bumrash.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Nothing to do with the age old blabla that's been dominant last year, just that i don't find it so black&white.

 

[Lakih]

In my oppinion voting is your democratic right, doesnt matter if your in prison, a mental institution, dumb as a fuck or a ginger D).

Most people in prison will come out and be part of sociaty at one point and have the right to form that sociaty, and even if you are locked up for life the politics of your country can and will affect you even to a small degree.

Imagine the world have gone upside down and you find yourself in prison for a nonesense crime like copyright infringement, 6 months left of your sentence. The ruling goverment decides prisons are to costly and puts up for public vote that all prisoners should be drowned in concrete. Wouldnt you like the chance to vote against it?

 

[Wazzerphuk]

While they're in the clink they've lost the right to whine. In a social sense, they're in stasis. I see no need to altar that until their time is served.

I think you're using word "social" as rather light phrase tbh. They're not really in stasis, they're under guard. As I've said before, if they were truly in stasis, they wouldn't be able to earn money, practice their religions etc.

Giving criminals the vote is essentially the same thing as above. It falls right in line with their current rights.

If you have an issue with giving criminals the vote, what you're really at issue with is the entire prison and welfare system, rather than this isolated matter.

And this doesn't even touch upon the potential of innocents wrongly imprisoned, but for the sake of this debate they don't strictly count.

 

[Garaen]

I've got an idea, if you want to vote, don't break the law. Simples.

 

[cHodAX]

Giving criminals the vote is essentially the same thing as above. It falls right in line with their current rights.

And yet it is not part of their current rights and never was for centuries before this E.U. quango ever existed and felt the need to dicate policy to a government we elected. If this was such a big issue our own people would have raised it well before now but the truth is that this shit was not stirred up until the E.U. decided we all had whatever human rights they decided to come up with. Well the E.U. does not override our sovereignty or the will of the British people and our people have never show any inclination at all for the law to be changed in this regard. Good on and Cameron and Straw, stand firm and protect our rights as a nation to make and enforce our own laws as our people see fit.

 

[Septima]

Law and citizenship are two different things. Any criminal, be it a murderer or a guy that had burn a stop while driving a bicycle, are still citizens. Due to their acts they should be punished accordingly with their crimes but not lost all their citizen rights.
Most of us have broken the law at some point of our live, and may have or not punished accordingly. Still none of us lost the right to vote, so why being in prison be it for murderer or financial fraud should take away the right to vote?
Abuse of public powers led to prison (or not) and in most country's the right to candidate to a public post again, but will not deny you the right to vote.

In other hand, literacy/IQ tests to see if you can vote or not is a thin line to cross but it's debatable: if you can't understand what you are voting for how can it be consider a valid vote? Just asking a question, don't have an answer to this yet.

 

[ford prefect]

I have to admit that I am a little shocked at some of the Black & White ideas about people in prison in this thread. The IQ thing is the biggest load of tosh I have ever read, and the idea that all criminals have an inate resentment about society in general and therefore shouldn't get the right to vote is equally garbage.

At least 90% of people in prison are absolutely no different to the people posting in this thread and they are their because in one bizarre and inexplicable moment their lives got out of control and they made a bad descision and yes, I include people who are in prison for murder in that too. It seems to me that it is easy to condemn people as these shadowy people who despise society and all it stands for, but having sat through literally thousands of police interviews, I have to say, I have come across VERY few genuinely bad people.

 

[old.Tohtori]

A lot of hollywood in it in part; people thinkign everyone behind bars is this rough/tuff, acidspitting badguy, or a criminal mastermind.

Then there's the innocent factor. Which is especially high in the states, but a big one here too.

Then there are the passioncrimes, which could happen to anyone(kill a guy after he rogers someones kid anyone? Sound familiar? Still a crime.)

Then there's the little, tiny, just a smudge of a fact that while prisons teach prisoners how to live outside, no one is teaching outside how to live with prisoners. That's how a lot of repeaters are born, because of the dear old society.

 

[Ormorof]

not like any of the parties have exactly been following up on many of their election promises, might as well have selected them with eeny meeeny miny mo

i think the main worry would be the potential for a surge in "prisoner" parties, anyone have any stats on any constituencies where theres a large enough prison population to actually influence a vote?

(if theres a prison or two with 2000-3000 inmates in many councils or elections could easily swing the vote one way or the other i guess!)

 

[Helme]

Like it actually matters who gets to vote when the reality is that democracy is just an illusion to appease the masses and keep the rich rich and the powerful powerful.