Contrasting Prisoners' Rights A Comparative Examination of Germany and England

by Lazarus, Liora

• ISBN13: 9780199259830
• ISBN10: 0199259836
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume aims to provoke reflection on the English conception and treatment of prisoners' rights, through juxtaposition with the conception of prisoners' rights in Germany. First, the German and English understandings of prisoners' legal status are examined; secondly these understandingsare placed against the background of broader social, political, and legal factors; and thirdly, the methodological problems of comparative law are addressed.English and German approaches to prisoners' rights present illuminating contrasts. In England, despite significant judicial activity in the development of a jurisprudence of prisoners' rights, protection of prisoners' rights remains partial and equivocal. Many aspects of prison life are left withinthe realm of executive discretion. This equivocal commitment to rights in England is juxtaposed with Germany's highly articulated rights culture and its ambitious system of prisoners' rights protection under the Prison Act 1976. The German Prison Act sets out foundational principles of prisonadministration, affords prisoners positive rights, defines the limitations of prisoners' constitutional rights, and provides prisoners with recourse to a Prison Court. Moreover, these rights and principles have been developed and refined in a substantial body of prison law jurisprudence over thelast thirty years.

Author Biography

Liora Lazarus is Fellow and Tutor in Law at St. Anne's College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Law and Associate of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

Table of German Cases	xiii
Table of German Constitutional and Statutory Provisions	xix
Table of Cases: England and Wales	xxv
Table of Statutory Provisions: England and Wales	xxxi
Table of European Court of Human Rights Cases	xxxv
Table of International Conventions, Treaties, Instruments and Standards	xxxvii
Citation Conventions	xxxix
Abbreviations	xli
Introduction	1	(22)
I: GERMANY
Prisoners in a Constitutional State	23	(27)
Reform Ideals and Political Compromise	50	(22)
The German Prison Act: Principles and Special Provisions	72	(55)
II. ENGLAND AND WALES
Penal Politics and Prison Law	127	(34)
Prisoners and the Parliamentary Constitution	161	(38)
The Jurisprudence of Prisoners' Rights	199	(49)
Conclusion	248	(7)
Bibliography	255	(24)
Index	279