Risk reduction and redemption: an interpretive account of the right to rehabilitation in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights

TY - JOUR

T1 - Risk reduction and redemption

T2 - an interpretive account of the right to rehabilitation in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights

AU - O'Loughlin, Ailbhe

N1 - © The Author(s) 2020. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - This article offers new insights into ECtHR jurisprudence that recognises a right to rehabilitation for prisoners but also recognises a nebulous ‘right to security’ on behalf of the public that threatens to undermine its commitments to prisoners’ rights. It distinguishes two distinct concepts of rehabilitation underpinning the ECtHR’s jurisprudence: rehabilitation as risk reduction and rehabilitation as redemption. The first is shaped by a modern preoccupation with identifying and eliminating risk factors for offending. The second reflects the idea that offending is a sign of bad character but that people can atone for their crimes and mend their ways by working hard to change themselves. The article concludes that the ECtHR, by placing the onus on life-sentenced prisoners to demonstrate they have achieved rehabilitation in order to earn release from prison, risks entrenching the trends of popular punitiveness and precautionary penal warehousing that it has sought to oppose.

AB - This article offers new insights into ECtHR jurisprudence that recognises a right to rehabilitation for prisoners but also recognises a nebulous ‘right to security’ on behalf of the public that threatens to undermine its commitments to prisoners’ rights. It distinguishes two distinct concepts of rehabilitation underpinning the ECtHR’s jurisprudence: rehabilitation as risk reduction and rehabilitation as redemption. The first is shaped by a modern preoccupation with identifying and eliminating risk factors for offending. The second reflects the idea that offending is a sign of bad character but that people can atone for their crimes and mend their ways by working hard to change themselves. The article concludes that the ECtHR, by placing the onus on life-sentenced prisoners to demonstrate they have achieved rehabilitation in order to earn release from prison, risks entrenching the trends of popular punitiveness and precautionary penal warehousing that it has sought to oppose.

KW - Criminology

KW - Human Rights

KW - Risk assessment

KW - Offender rehabilitation

KW - sentencing

KW - punishment

U2 - 10.1093/ojls/gqaa060

DO - 10.1093/ojls/gqaa060

M3 - Article

SN - 0143-6503

VL - 41

JO - Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

JF - Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

IS - 2

M1 - gqaa060

ER -