The Sun‘s latest campaign is to get the Human Rights Act revoked. As usual with their important campaigns like this they had a phone-in poll last week. As usual the vast majority of Sun readers (well the ones who could be bothered to tear themselves away from page 3 and pick up the phone) agreed with the idea. As usual Sun readers were giving knee-jerk reactions without understanding the issues involved.
I really wish there was some way to get all Sun readers to read what Marcel Berlins has written on the subject today.
The Human Rights Act is increasingly being made a scapegoat for government incompetence, maladministration and badly drafted legislation. Take the case of Anthony Rice, the rapist who killed a woman nine months after being released on licence. From the report by the chief inspector of probation, it is clear that the fundamental mistake was letting Rice out of prison in the first place.
His release had nothing to do with the Human Rights Act, but with errors made – systematic and human – in furnishing the parole board with correct information about him. Once out, he was negligently supervised, also not the fault of the act. The inspector criticised the parole board for paying too much attention to Rice’s human rights – to do with the conditions of his release – but this was not centrally relevant to the tragedy which followed. Yet the impression left by reports in much of the media, jumped on enthusiastically by commentators, was that the Human Rights Act was somehow responsible.
Yes, but this is only one case. One swallow doesn’t make a summer (although it certainly made mine last year!)