Punishment, Penal Policy and Citizenship
Journal Title: The Polish Journal of Criminology - Year 2015, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
This chapter reviewed the legal and political debates on punishment, penal policy and citizen-ship, with particular reference to voting rights for prisoners. With universal adult suffrage taken for granted in liberal democracies, prisoner enfranchisement remains one of the few contested elec-toral issues in twenty first century representative government. It is at the intersection of democracy and punishment. The objective of this chapter is to examine the debates surrounding prisoners and the franchise. Attempts to restrict prisoners from voting - the foundation of modern citizenship - have been an issue of some controversy in a number of jurisdictions in recent decades. This chapter begins by setting out the historical antecedents of prisoner disenfranchisement, usually associated with civil death statutes and based on a social contract argument. It then examines the rationale/s for and against disenfranchisement and how these have been utilized by politicians, policymakers and the judiciary to remove or confirm the right to vote. It concludes by considering if the decision to enfranchise or disenfranchise prisoners indicates something deeper about penal policy in differ-ent jurisdictions. Whether the debates were conducted in the serene surrounds of the courtroom or the hothouse of the parliamentary chamber, the decision to enfranchise or disenfranchise prisoners gives us an insight into the impact of imprisonment on citizenship, but can also give an indication of a jurisdiction’s penal policy and wider attitudes towards the treatment of its confined citizens. Uggen et al. concluded that ‘it seems likely that more punitive nations devalue and stigmatise those convicted of crimes and are hence more likely to deprive them of citizenship rights’
Authors and Affiliations
Cormac Benham
Keywords
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