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New Zealand Human Rights Commission Submissions |
Last Updated: 28 June 2015
Submission by the
Human Rights
Commission
ELECTORAL (DISQUALIFICATION OF CONVICTED PRISONERS)
BILL
To the Law and Order Committee
11 June 2010
Contact person: Sylvia Bell
Principal Legal and Policy
Analyst
Phone 09 306 2650
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This submission on the Electoral (Disqualification of
Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill is made by the Human Rights
Commission (the
Commission).
1.2 The Commission derives its statutory mandate from the Human Rights
Act 1993 (HRA). The long title of the HRA describes it
as an Act “to
provide better protection of human rights in New Zealand in general accordance
with the United Nations Covenants
or Conventions on Human Right”. The
right to vote is reflected in a number of the international human rights
instruments.
1.3 The right to vote is considered fundamental to representative
democracies. In Western democracies, in particular, it is well
recognised that
the right to vote applies to all citizens subject only to the narrowest
exceptions but although the trend has been
to gradually extend the franchise,
the one group that has most often been the target of disenfranchisement is
convicted prisoners1 .
1.4 In New Zealand only people serving sentences of more than three
years are unable to vote. This Bill would amend the Electoral
Act 1993 by
removing the right of all prisoners serving a sentence of imprisonment to
vote.
1.5 The Commission considers that if enacted this Bill has the potential
to undermine New Zealand’s democratic arrangements
and would be
inconsistent with its international commitments.
1.6 The Commission is strongly opposed to this Bill for the following
reasons:
• It is inconsistent with international standards and international jurisprudence
• It breaches s.12(a) of the Bill of Rights Act and cannot be
justified under s.5 of that Act
• It will impact disproportionately on Maori, both men and women,
and therefore may amount to indirect discrimination which
could not be defended
as reasonable
1 Guttman, D Roach v Commonwealth: Is the Blanket Disenfranchisement of Convicted Prisoners Unconstitutional?
• It is inconsistent with the aim of the penal system to
rehabilitate offenders
• It is at odds with the concept of a democracy
• It undermines the tolerant, inclusive society New Zealand prides
itself on being.
2. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
2.1 Political participation is the basis of a democracy and vital to the
enjoyment of all human rights. The right to vote in
elections, without
discrimination, is therefore considered one of the most fundamental of all human
rights and civil liberties2 .
2.2 The right to vote has its genesis in Article 21 of the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights (the Declaration) which states that:
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through chosen representatives ....
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of
government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine
elections which
shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures.
2.3 The right of every citizen to vote is protected by Article 25 of the
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which
reads:
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without
any of the distinctions mentioned in Article 2 [race,
colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status] and without
unreasonable restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through
freely chosen representatives;
(b) To vote ... at genuine public elections which shall be by universal
and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing
the free
expression of the will of the electors.
2.4 Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (ICERD) identifies the right to vote as part of equal
and universal suffrage. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women
2 Australian Human Rights Commission, The right to vote is not enjoyed equally by all Australians (February 2010) at
(CEDAW) requires States Parties to ensure women have the right to vote on
equal terms with men.
2.5 New Zealand has ratified all three treaties committing itself to protecting the rights they contain domestically 3 .
2.6 Although the ICCPR recognises that the right to vote is
not absolute, any derogation needs to be explained and
justified. In General
Comment 25(57)4 the Human Rights Committee charged with
monitoring implementation of the Covenant stated in regard to Article
25:
In their reports, State parties should indicate and explain the
legislative provisions which would deprive citizens of their right
to vote. The
grounds for such deprivation should be objective and reasonable. If conviction
for an offence is a basis for suspending
the right to vote, the period of
suspension should be proportionate to the offence and the sentence. Persons who
are deprived of
liberty but who have not been convicted should not be excluded
from exercising the right to vote.
2.7 It follows that the obligation undertaken in relation to the right
to vote is to ensure that if conviction is a reason for
suspending the right,
the period of suspension should be proportionate to the offence and the
sentence.
2.8 The change proposed cannot be justified in terms of the General
Comment. The suggestion in the Explanatory Note that total
disenfranchisement
is somehow justified because 69% of first time offenders convicted of
possession of methamphetamine and amphetamine
have already received
non-custodial sentences5 , overlooks the fact that it will impact on
anybody who is convicted and sentenced for even a relatively minor
offence.
2.9 The change in 1993 (which disqualifies any person serving a sentence
of imprisonment for more than three years from voting)
was based on contemporary
thinking that a prisoner retained the rights of other citizens (except for loss
of liberty) but “that
punishment for a serious crime against the
community may properly involve a further forfeiture of some rights such as the
right
to vote.”6
3 New Zealand ratified the ICCPR in 1978, CERD in 1972 and CEDAW in1985
4 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights General Comment No 25: The Right to Participate In Public
Affairs, Voting Rights and the Right of Equal Access to the Public Service (Article 25) (12 July 1996) CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7 at para 14
5 Explanatory Note, Electoral (Disqualification of Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill (117-1) at 2
6 Ibid.
2.10 Developments in international jurisprudence and social policy over
the intervening period suggest that disenfranchisement
has no recognised
deterrent effect and it is more appropriate that prisoners are encouraged to
view themselves as part of the community
than further excluded from it. This
approach is also consistent with Article 10(3) of the ICCPR which specifically
states that “The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of
prisoners, the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social
rehabilitation”
indicating that the principal aim of imprisonment
should be rehabilitation rather than punishment and deterrence.
2.11 The rationale for the proposed amendment appears to be that
committing any crime that attracts imprisonment means a person
automatically
forfeits the right to political participation. This can only be seen as punitive
and is scarcely conducive to rehabilitation.
2.12 The Commission considers that the proposed change is inconsistent
with the international requirements. The fact that
the ban would apply
to anybody sentenced to a period of imprisonment, irrespective of the
seriousness of the offence or the
personal circumstances of the offender, is
arbitrary and cannot be justified.7
3. INTERNATIONAL JURISPRUDENCE
3.1 In recent years there have been a number of significant decisions in
comparative jurisdictions that have addressed the
question of whether
legislation can legitimately deny prisoners the right to vote and, if so, in
what circumstances.
3.2 In 1992, in Canada in Sauvé v Canada8 the
Supreme Court unanimously struck down a federal legislative provision that
barred convicted persons serving sentences of imprisonment
from voting, on the
grounds that it infringed the Canadian Charter. In response, the government
introduced amendments which limited
the ban to prisoners serving sentences of
two or more years. This, in turn, was challenged. The Supreme Court again
(although
this time by a narrow minority) held that this could not be
justified9 .
7 For further discussion on this see Guttman, supra fn 1
8 [1992] 2 SCR 438; Sauvé (No.1)
9 Sauvé (No 2) [2002] 3 SCR
519
3.3 The Chief Justice summarised the reasons for the decision as
follows:
The right of every citizen to vote, guaranteed by s.3 of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, lies at the heart of Canadian
democracy. The law
at stake in this appeal denies the right to vote to a certain class of people
– those serving sentences
of two years or more in a correctional
institution. The question is whether the government has established that this
denial
of the right to vote is allowed under s.1 of the Charter as a
‘reasonable limit demonstrably justified in a free and democratic
society’. I conclude that it is not. The right to vote which lies at the
heart of Canadian democracy, can only be trammelled
for good reason. Here, the
reasons offered do not suffice10 .
3.4 The majority Judges considered that the reasons given by the
government did not justify the infringement of the right. The
measure did not
promote ‘civic responsibility or respect for the law’ but was more
likely to undermine those values by
excluding prisoners from participating in
the democratic system; there was no credible reason for denying a fundamental
democratic
right in the interests of additional punishment; the punishment
itself was arbitrary as it bore no relationship to the circumstances
of
individual offenders; and disfranchisement could not be said to serve a valid
purpose since there was no evidence that it had
a deterrent effect11
.
3.5 In South Africa, the Constitutional Court found that
legislation which disenfranchised prisoners serving
sentences of imprisonment
without the option of a fine infringed the right to vote in Art.19(3) of the
Constitution. In Minister of Home Affairs v National Institution for Crime
Prevention and the Re-Integration of Offenders and others12 the
government justified its position on fiscal grounds arguing that the money
necessary to accommodate the different categories
of voters in prison would be
better applied to ensuring other groups - such as the aged or physically
disabled - could vote. The
Court dismissed this argument, finding that the
blanket ban could not be justified because it included prisoners whose
convictions
and sentences were still under appeal.
10 Ibid. para 1
11 The reasoning leaves it open whether the Court would support legislation which permitted disenfranchising prisoners if it was linked to a particular type of offence or if the Courts had the discretion to bar a prisoner from voting
as part of the sentencing process: Davidson J, Inside Outcasts: prisoners and the right to vote in Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Current Issues Brief: No.12 2003-4 at 6
12 [2004] 5 BCLR 445(CC)
3.6 In the United Kingdom there is a blanket ban on sentenced prisoners
voting. This was questioned in a case taken to the European
Court of Human
Rights in 2004. In Hirst v United Kingdom (No. 2)13 , a
court of seven judges agreed that while the right to vote was subject to
exceptions that were imposed in pursuit of a legitimate
aim, the English
legislation violated Article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention
of Human Rights14 . As in Canada, the UK government argued that the
purpose of the legislation was twofold – to prevent crime and punish
offenders
and to enhance civic responsibility and respect of the rule of
law.
3.7 The European Court dismissed these arguments for much the same
reasons as the Canadian Supreme Court – namely, denying
prisoners the
right to vote is more likely to undermine, rather than promote, civic
responsibility and respect for democracy, and
there is no evidence that
disenfranchisement deters crime and therefore no rational link between
punishment and offence. Again
it was the absolute nature of the bar that was
the problem15 .
3.8 Finally, most recently, the Australian High Court addressed the
issue of legislation which disqualified anyone from voting
who was in prison
when the election writ was issued. In Roach v Electoral Commissioner &
Anor16 , the plaintiff challenged the ban on the grounds that
constraints deriving from the text and structure of the Constitution rendered
the blanket ban invalid.
3.9 By a 4-2 majority the Court upheld the challenge, the Judges
accepting that the blanket ban lacked the necessary nexus between
the criterion
leading to disqualification and conduct which made it reasonable to exclude a
person from participating in the electoral
process. Chief Justice Gleeson noted
[at para 12] that:
13 74025/01 ECHR 2004
14 The first protocol to Art.3 reads: The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.
15 Despite the decision in Hirst the situation in the UK has not altered, with the consequence that the recent election
was arguably not compliant with the European Convention: Committee of Ministers, Council of Europe (CM/ResDH (2009) 1601, Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, Hirst against the United Kingdom No.2)
16 [2007] HCA 43 (26 September 2007)
... since deprivation of the franchise takes away a right associated with
citizenship, that is, with full membership of the community,
the rationale for
the exclusion must be that serious offending represents such a form of civic
irresponsibility that it is appropriate
for Parliament to mark such behaviour as
anti-social and to direct that physical separation from the community will be
accompanied
by symbolic separation in the form of loss of a fundamental
political right.
3.10 The effect of the decision is to reinstate the situation which
existed before the change. That is, a person serving a sentence
of three or more
years is unable to vote.
3.11 Together these decisions indicate that a blanket ban which has the
effect of disenfranchising prisoners simply because they
have been found guilty
of an imprisonable offence is unacceptable, inconsistent with democratic
ideals and undermines social responsibility.
3.12 At present the position in New Zealand is consistent with the
situation in other comparable countries. The effect of
the Bill would be
to undermine this by removing a significant constitutional right from anyone
sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
The Commission therefore considers that the
proposed amendment is a retrograde step that cannot be justified either legally
or morally
and is inconsistent with international jurisprudence17
.
4. CONSISTENCY WITH THE NEW ZEALAND BILL OF RIGHTS ACT
1990
4.1 The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BoRA) was enacted to affirm
New Zealand’s commitment to the ICCPR. Although
not all the rights in the
Convention are reflected in the BoRA, most are. They include Art.25 which is
translated into s.12(a) and
which is the basis for democratic elections in New
Zealand.
4.2 Section 12(a) provides that every citizen in New Zealand over the
age of 18 is entitled to vote - subject to the limits in
the Electoral Act 1993
(which include inter
17 The decisions from Canada and the ECHR are more compatible with the domestic statutory framework in New Zealand than the decision in Roach where the challenge was explicitly linked to the Australian Constitution, the Chief Justice noting that the “uncritical translation of the concept of proportionality ... in the Australian context could lead to the application of a constitutionally inappropriate standard of judicial review of legislative action”[ibid at para 17]
alia the current restriction on people who are imprisoned for an
offence of three years or longer being unable to register).
4.3 As with all the substantive rights in the BoRA, the right to vote can be limited if it can be justified as a “reasonable limitation in a free and democratic society”18 . In deciding whether this is the case, the Supreme Court in R v Hansen19 considered it was necessary to consider whether the limiting measure serves a purpose sufficiently important to justify curtailment of the right or freedom; whether the limiting measure is rationally connected with its purpose; whether the limiting measure impairs the right or freedom no more than is reasonably necessary to achieve its purpose and whether the limit is proportionate to the importance of the
objective.
4.4 The only case to date which has addressed the issue of the conflict
between s.12(a) and the effect of the Electoral Act
on prisoners was Re
Bennett20 . Grieg J found there was a clear statutory
conflict and that the Electoral Act prevailed by reason of s.4 BoRA. However,
that case
involved enacted legislation whereas the situation here differs in
that the legislation is still in Bill form.
4.5 The Attorney-General in his s.7 opinion concludes that the Bill is
both inconsistent with the BoRA and cannot be justified
in terms of s.5. He
reached this conclusion principally because the disenfranchisement will depend
entirely on the date of sentencing,
which bears no relationship either to the
objective of the Bill or to the conduct of the prisoners whose voting rights are
taken
away. The irrational effects of the Bill also cause it to be
disproportionate to its objective21 .
4.6 The Commission agrees with this assessment but would go even
further. Unlike the Attorney-General, we do not agree that the
Bill could be
said to serve a significant and important objective. The
Attorney-General’s position (albeit, we admit, qualified)
is based on the
assumption that temporarily disenfranchising serious offenders as a part of
their punishment could be construed as
a significant
18 Section 5 BoRA
19 [2007] 3 NZLR 1 (SC) at 28
21 Report of the Attorney-General under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 on the Electoral (Disqualification of
Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill (J.4) at para 15
and important objective. However, presumably this already occurs under the
Electoral Act as anyone serving a sentence of three years
or more cannot vote.
The effect of the Bill, as we have already noted, would be to prevent anyone
sentenced to a period of imprisonment from voting and, as the
Attorney-General notes,
It is questionable that every person serving a sentence of imprisonment is
necessarily a serious offender. People who are not serious
offenders will be
disenfranchised. Fine defaulters may be sentenced to imprisonment as an
alternative sentence. I doubt that this
group of people can be characterised as
serious offenders such that they should forfeit their right to vote22
.
4.7 Although we consider that the Bill does not serve a significant and
purpose that justifies curtailing the right, there is
also no rational
connection between what the Bill seeks to do and the right to vote. The most
likely effect will be to simply further
alienate offenders. Denying prisoners
the right to vote simply because they have been convicted of an imprisonable
offence, irrespective
of the nature of the offence or the personal circumstances
of the individual, is arbitrary and out of proportion with what it seeks
to
achieve.
4.8 The Commission considers that, as the Bill is basically punitive
and prisoner disenfranchisement cannot be coherently defended
by the
justification of punishment, it does not serve a significant and important
purpose.
4.9 The Bill is inconsistent with s.12(a) BoRA and cannot be justified under
s.5.
5. INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION BY REASON OF RACE
5.1 The Human Rights Commission not only deals with wider human rights issues
but administers a disputes resolution process for complaints
of
discrimination.
5.2 Discrimination can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination is not
defined in the HRA
but an action will be considered to amount to discrimination if it involves
less favourable
22 Ibid. at para 12 See also comments in Belczowski v the Queen (1992) DLR (4th) 330 “the legislation catches not only the crapulous murderer but also the fine defaulter who is in prison for no better reason than his inability to pay.”
treatment by reason of one of the prohibited grounds (which include race and
ethnicity). While the Bill cannot be said to discriminate
directly, it does so
indirectly.
5.3 Indirect discrimination is said to occur when a practice or policy
that appears neutral disproportionately affects one of
the groups against whom
it is unlawful to discriminate in a negative way23 . The
discrimination can be excused if there is a good reason for the policy or
practice.
5.4 In New Zealand, Maori are disproportionately represented in the prison population. Maori men make up an estimated 45% of the male sentenced population even though they are only 10% of the male population in New Zealand24 and Maori women make up nearly
60% of the female prison population. It follows that if the Bill were to be
enacted it would impact to a significantly greater extent
on Maori.
5.5 This situation is not unique to New Zealand. It is generally
accepted that prisoner disenfranchisement disproportionately
affects indigenous
persons or minorities - usually men25 . It follows that any
disqualification on voting and/or restriction on the right to vote will have a
greater impact on such groups
and, in New Zealand, may amount to indirect
discrimination against Maori. For the reasons already given, the discriminatory
impact
of the Bill cannot be defended as being for a good reason.
5.6 The discrimination is also inconsistent with aspects of the ICCPR
and ICERD. The ICCPR specifically proscribes discrimination
in delivery of the
substantive rights in the Covenant (including the right to vote) while the ICERD
requires States to guarantee,
without distinction as to race, the right to
participate in elections and vote on the basis of universal and equal
suffrage26 . ICERD also obliges States to amend, rescind or
nullify
23 Section 65 HRA 1993
24 Ministry of Justice, Profile of New Zealand’s Prison Population and Trends available at http://www .justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/t/the- use-of imprisonment.
25 See, for example, Orr, G. Ghosts of the Civil Dead: Prisoner Disenfranchisement. Democratic Audit of Australia, Discussion Paper 5/2003 or Ridley-Smith, M. & Redman, R. “Prisoners and the right to vote” Chapter 16 in Brown, D.
& Wilkie, M. (eds) Prisoners as Citizens (Federation Press, 2002). In Sauvé v Canada the majority considered the type of disenfranchisement proposed would have had a disproportionate impact on Canada’s “already disadvantaged
Aboriginal population” and in Farrakhan v Gregoire, the US Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit in January this year held that due to racial discrimination in the state criminal justice system, the automatic disenfranchisement of felons
led to denial of the right to vote by reason of race. In late April, it was decided the case will be reheard by a panel of
11 judges.
26 Article 5, CERD
any laws that have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial
discrimination, or of strengthening racial division27 .
5.7 The right to vote in Art.25 of the ICCPR must be
available without discriminatory restrictions. When combined
with Arts. 5 and 1
of ICERD (prohibition of racial discrimination that has the effect of nullifying
or impairing the equal exercise
of the right to vote) the legislative proposal
can be seen, quite simply, as discriminatory.
5.8 Because of the disproportionate effect that a blanket
disenfranchisement of prisoners would have on Maori, the Commission
considers
that the proposed legislation is discriminatory and conflicts with New
Zealand’s international obligations.
6. PURPOSE OF THE PENAL SYSTEM
6.1 We have already commented that the Commission considers a principal
aim of imprisonment is rehabilitation. We are reinforced
in that view by
Art.10(3) of the ICCPR which refers to the “essential aim of the
penitentiary system being reformation and
social
rehabilitation”.
6.2 This approach is echoed in comments of the UN Treaty bodies. For
example, in 2002 the Human Rights Committee commented about
New Zealand (in the
context of privatisation of prisons) that:
... there does not appear to be any effective mechanism of day-to-day
monitoring to ensure that prisoners are treated with humanity and
with respect
for the inherent dignity of the human person and further benefit from treatment,
the essential aim of which is directed
to their reformation and social
rehabilitation. The State party should ensure that all persons deprived
of their liberty are not deprived of the various rights guaranteed under
article
10 of the Covenant.28
6.3 The UN Standard Minimum Rules, which are appended to the Corrections
Act
2004, also emphasise the importance of rehabilitation stating
that:
The treatment of persons sentenced to imprisonment or a similar measure
shall have as its purpose, so far as the length of the sentence
permits, to
establish in
27 Art. 2, CERD
28 CCPR/CO/75/NZL (HRC, 2002) at para 13
them the will to lead law-abiding and self-supporting lives after their
release and fit them to do so. The treatment shall be such
as will encourage
their self-respect and develop their sense of responsibility.
6.4 Restricting prisoners’ civil rights is out of step with this
goal and inconsistent with modern rehabilitative aims.
6.5 As Ridley-Smith and Redman observe29 , if the principal
aim of punishment is rehabilitation and facilitation of a prisoner’s
positive re-entry into society when
they are released, the denial of rights such
as the right to vote serves no useful purpose and can arguably alienate them
even more.
Rather than feeling part of society, they are more likely to feel
further excluded.
6.6 The Supreme Court of Canada commented along similar lines in
Sauvé noting:
Denying inmates the right to vote is to lose an important means of
teaching them democratic values and social values ... It removes
a route to
social development and undermines correctional law and policy directed towards
rehabilitation and integration.
6.7 The Commission considers that prisoners should not be
disenfranchised as it has the effect of excluding them from society
and is
incompatible with rehabilitation. Allowing prisoners to vote enables them to
engage with law and order in a constructive,
rather than a destructive,
manner. Being able to vote facilitates their re-entry to society as they are
more likely to identify with
a society they have had a stake in creating. It is
also more consistent with a penal system that has as its objective social
rehabilitation.
7. CONCLUSION
7.1 Political participation is fundamental to a democracy and voting is
a basic human right. The disenfranchisement of prisoners
cannot, in the
Commission’s opinion, be justified as punishment – particularly if,
as would be the case here, the restriction
would apply irrespective of the
sentence or nature of the offence. If the ban on voting was linked to the
severity of the crime there
may (arguably) be some logic in imposing it but
where it is dependent on the fact of sentencing alone, it can be
29 Supra fn 26 at 285
seen as little other than punishing people twice over. It is worth
remembering that people are sent to prison as punishment not
for punishment.
7.2 Disenfranchisement has no proven deterrent effect and it can
actively undermine the ability of prisoners to engage constructively
with the
very society to which they will be released when discharged and, thus, their
eventual social rehabilitation.
7.3 As in other jurisdictions where there have been similar attempts to
disenfranchise convicted persons, there seems to be some
tacit notion that
preventing prisoners from voting can be justified because they have violated
society’s rules i.e. there is
some sort of “social contract”
whereby ‘those who do not obey the laws of the land are barred from
receiving the
benefits of society, including the right to vote’30
.
7.4 The concept of the social contract has been raised in other contexts
in New Zealand - most recently in Atkinson & Ors v Ministry of
Health31 where it was recognised that, while there may well be
some form of social contract, “... we are a long way short of being able
to specify the actual ingredients of a social contract.”
7.5 Perhaps a more obvious way of refuting the social contract
argument is to recognise that modern democracies are
based on the concept that
all people – including prisoners – have rights simply by virtue of
their common humanity. It
then follows that “prisoners retain the link
they have with society by serving their sentences. To disregard their
right
to vote then becomes a fundamental breach of the social contract”32
.
7.4 The Commission therefore strongly opposes the move to ban
all convicted persons from voting. Voting is a fundamental
human right and
cannot be justified either as punishment or as a deterrent. The Bill itself is
inconsistent with New Zealand’s
international commitments and overseas
jurisprudence. In the domestic context it contravenes the BoRA and cannot be
justified and
the disproportionate impact on Maori amounts to indirect
discrimination. Perhaps most importantly, however, it undermines the
notion
of New Zealand as a democracy where everyone has rights and
responsibilities.
30 Robins, G. ‘The Rights of Prisoners to Vote: A Review of Prison Disenfranchisement in New Zealand’ (2006) 4 New
Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 165 at 190
31HRRT 33/05 (8 /1/10)
32 Supra fn 31 at 193
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