Friday, January 12, 2007

Human Rights Violation

Following on from the story last week that two escaped prisoners could not be identified by picture as it might infringe their human rights we now have a story that a youth offender who tried to commit suicide but was cut down has won about £575,000 because his human rights were violated.

Something surely has to be done about this misuse of the Human Rights Act and it is a misuse. It seems to be interpreted by everyone and his dog as a violation of right the moment you aren't allowed to do whatever you want. The problem will come that if it is used for cases such as the above, it will become harder for real cases of violation to get heard quickly, and also to be taken seriously.

A couple of points though. Firstly, if that offender had been allowed to kill himself, i.e. not cut down when they found him, then surely it would have made euthanasia legal and set a precedent. Secondly, had he died, then his family could have sued the Prison Service for negligence. A rather dangegous precedent thus set, as it means if someone tries to commit suicide, whether they are successful or not, there will be a payout.

1 comment:

Masher said...

Madness. And now that he has set a precedent, we'll all be trying it. Now, where did I put that rope...?