Abstract

Through the use of the Singleton case, this paper will analyse the controversial justifications behind enforced medical treatment on death row inmates in both moral and legal terms. I will first of all briefly consider what is the basis for the justification of punishment in the Western society. Subsequently I will highlight the case more in detail within its Anglo-American legal context, considering landmark cases related to this topic as well as the evolution that insanity has had in the assessment of criminal responsibility in the past two centuries both in US and UK. Finally, I will consider the clash of rights between the right to treatment of every prisoner and the right to refuse medication if not justified by reasonably foreseeable positive outcomes for the agent suffering it.