Prisoner rights in focus at crime and justice seminar

Professor David Brown from the Faculty of Law will speak at the first seminar in a new series of Crime and Justice Research Network staff / student seminars.

Professor Brown’s address, Prisoners: Rights and Citizenship: an ever changing story, will discuss the Australian government’s recent decision to pass legislation abolishing the right of prisoners to vote.

“This decision comes at a time when courts in other jurisdictions such as Canada and the UK have struck down legislative restrictions on prisoners' right to vote. The seminar will use this as an illustration of the shifting attitudes to what might be perceived as a fundamental human right and examine the extent to which prisoners' claims of citizenship are subject to political reversal,” says Professor Brown. “Are such actions a return to feudal notions of "forfeit" and "civil death" or do the roots of such exclusionary practices lie in liberalism or in the 'new punitiveness'?”

Professor Brown has been involved in developing criminology at UNSW for more than three decades and his work has contributed to inter-disciplinary approaches to crime and justice. The seminar series aims to provide a bridge among both staff and students working from different disciplinary backgrounds on common themes and issues.

What: Professor David Brown Prisoners: Rights and Citizenship: an ever changing story Crime and Justice Research Network Staff/Student Seminar Series

When: 1-2pm Wednesday 31 May 2006

Where: The Law School staff common room, Level 11, Library Tower