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for some change in this policy particularly since capital
punishment for murder was abolished in this country in
This is likely to increase following
1969.
the decisive rejection by the House of Commons
last summer of the proposal to reintroduce capital
punishment for murder in the UK. almostý certainly means that
this pressure will become stronger than ever should a new
capital case arise in one of the dependent territories.
Recent experience has also shown that the existence of capital punishment can pose a threat to public order in
a dependent territory, not only when executions are carried out (Bermuda, 1977) but also when sentences are
comauted I-BVI 1978)—
,
4.
Repeated attempts have been made to persuade the governments of the dependent ferritories where capital punishment still exists to introduce their own legislation
abolish it. Seven territories have consistently
declined to do so, and there is little prospect of their being persuaded to change their minds now. We theref have a choice between continuing to live with the present
or taking steps to impose abolition from London.
5. To impose abolition from London would mean departing
from the well established convention of not imposing
laws concerning a domestic matter of this kind upon any
territory against the wishes of the local government. This is, of course, particularly well-established in those territories which have already achieved a substantiall
degree of local autonomy. We should not depart from Fis
prinicple lightly, since the chief reason for our contin-
uing to be a colonial power is that in doing so we are meeting the wishes of the population of the territories
concerned. There is also the practical problem that at
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