CONFIDENTIAL
7 The main procedural difference between the exercise of the Prerogative in Jersey and the Isle of Man and in the DOT is that whereas the Governor of a DOT has a delegated authority from The Queen in capital cases, the Lieutenant Governors of the Islands do not. It is the responsibility of the Island authorities concerned, through the Lieutenant Governor, formally to refer such cases to the Home Secretary and it is his responsibility to advise The Queen. The Home Secretary considers each case individually, taking into account the particular circumstances of the case as well as the relevant public considerations. Among the latter are that no execution for murder has taken place in Jersey since 1959 and in the Isle of Man since 1872. The last occasion on which a sentence of death for murder was passed in Jersey was in 1975 (the sixth such sentence since 1959) and in the Isle of Man was in 1973 (the first such sentence since 1872). In 1975 it was reported that there was a general assumption in the Island community in Jersey that the Prerogative of Mercy would be exercised as it had been in relation to the five previous death sentences passed there since 1959. In the Isle of Man, although Tynwald had in 1957 and again 1968 refused to abolish the death penalty, there appeared to be general acceptance in 1973 that the death sentence could not be carried out in the face of its abolition in the United Kingdom and no undue resentment in the Island of a decision to interfere was expected or shown.
The Need for Change in Relation to the DOT
8. In the United Kingdon, despite continuing concern about murder and other crimes of violence, continued abolition of the death penalty for murder can now be regarded as fairly secure, because of the attitude of Parliament: public opinion continues to favour re-introduction, and a referendum would probably show
At a substantial majority in favour of the death penalty for some murders. Westminster the question has been treated as an "issue of conscience": decisions have been on a free vote, and much of the initiative has been left to backbenchers there has been a reticence about declaring abolition to be Government policy. There have now been twelve years of abolition for Great Britain, and attempts to re-open the question - even for terrorist murder have been defeated by convincing majorities. Nearly all Labour and Liberal MPs, and a substantial (and possibly growing) minority of Conservatives, are abolitionist in opinion. It is unlikely though not out of the question that a change in the composition of Parliament, cr in the murder situation, would create a majority for restoration: unlikely also that any Government would take an initiative to restore capital punishment, even though the present Leader of the Opposition and a number of leading
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CONFIDENTIAL