Tyrer v UK, 1978 application No. 5856/72
Citation: Tyrer v UK, 1978 application No. 5856/72
Rule of thumb: Are states allowed to introduce punishment for crimes which are physically degrading, such as smacks? No, this is a violation of the human right against degrading treatment.
Judgment:
The basic facts were that Mr Tyrer aged 15 was found guilty of assault and actual bodily harm by a youth Court. The Court sentenced him to 3 smacks of the birch – which basically meant that Tyrer had to pull his trousers and pants down in front of his Father and a doctor and be smacked 3 times by a police officer. The Court held that this amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment in terms of Article 3 of the ECHR, ‘the Convention is a living instrument which, as the Commission rightly stressed, must be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions. In the case now before it the Court cannot but be influenced by the developments and commonly accepted standards in the penal policy of the member States of the Council of Europe in this field’.
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.