DRAFT
To:-
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN 'THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
.....In Confidence
Type 1 +
From
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
The following is the proposed draft Parliamentary Question and
Answer to announce the abrogation of the "Creech Jones" formula in
capital cases in Dependent Territories:-
Q:
... to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealt›
Affairs if he will make a statement regarding procedure in capital
cases in British Dependent Territories.
A:
Hitherto, the policy of successive Secretaries of State on
the question of capital punishment in the Dependent Territories
has followed that established by the former Secretary of State
for the Colonies, lir Arthur Creech Jones, whereby HH The Queen
would not be advised to intervene in the non-exercise of the
Prerogative of Mercy by a Colonial Governor, unless there had
been an evident miscarriage of justice. (Hangard Vol 441 Cola
230 233 of 11 August 1947.). Since that time the death penalty
has been virtually abolished in the United Kingdom and is retained
os a punishment for murder in only seven of our remaining
Dependent Territories. I no longer regard the "Creech Joner:"
formula as the criterion by which the exercise of the Prerogative
of Mercy should be governed and in future in each case where the
Governor of a Dependent Territory decides not to exercise
G
/the