Convicted Persons as State Stigmatized Group in the Case Law of the Constitutional Court of Latvia (Abstract)

Abstract

The research aims to analyse the case law of the Constitutional Court in respect to restrictions on the fundamental rights of convicted individuals in correlation with society’s views of convicts. To do so, along with the methods of legal science, i.e., analy­sis of legal provisions and case law, the research uses sociological concepts, methods, and sources. The fundamental rights of an individual require that the State protects 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 in the research, 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, a part of the convicted individuals suffers a life-long stigma as they keep being restricted in their rights – e.g., rights to employment or to family life – even after the conviction has been expunged. The State has to realise if it limits possibilities for convicted individuals to lead a legitimate life enjoying full rights, 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.