Convicted Individuals as a Group Stigmatised by the State in the Case Law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

Abstract

Abstract This research aims at analysing the Constitutional Court’s case law in respect of restrictions on the fundamental rights of convicted individuals in correlation with society’s view of convicts. To do so, along with the methods of legal science (analysis of legal provisions and case law) the research uses sociological concepts, methods, and sources. The fundamental rights of an individual require the State to protect every individual’s human dignity in equal measure. However, even modern-day society still stigmatises particular groups of individuals, restricting their rights without good reason. The case law of the Constitutional Court of Latvia marks convicted individuals as a stigmatised group with limited rights. In the cases analysed, not even the minimum standards of fundamental rights protecting personal privacy were applied to persons serving a sentence for serious offences, with no individual assessment provided for, because society’s opinion, among other things, denies prisoners such fundamental rights. Furthermore, the convicted individuals may suffer from a life-long stigma as they keep being restricted in their rights – eg the rights to employment or to family life – even after the conviction is expunged. The State has to realise: if it limits the possibilities for convicted individuals to lead life with enjoying full rights, the probability of repeated offences by such individuals will be higher. By unreasonably restricting inclusion of convicted individuals in its life, society endangers rather than protects itself.