HC Deb 31 July 1981 vol 9 cc646-7W
Mr. Newens

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the powers of courts in the Isle of Man to sentence offenders found guilty of certain crimes to be birched in respect of whether these are fully in accord with all international agreements dealing with this issue.

Mr. Mayhew

In 1978, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the judicial corporal punishment inflicted in the Tyrer case constituted degrading punishment within the meaning of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The First Deemster of the Isle of Man subsequently informed all those entitled to pass such a sentence that the effect of this judgment was that judicial corporal punishment must henceforth be held to be in breach of the convention.

The provisions of Manx law, under which a sentence of birching may be imposed for certain offences, have not yet, however, been repealed.