CONFIDENTIAL
2
XCCI (78)16
3.
It is appropriate to emphasise that the Chief
Secretary's statement could not, and was not intended to, bind
Members as to the advice which they might wish to tender in a
particular case. The statement was intended to indicate the
stern view which the Governor took having regard to the level
of public concern. In the light of this, it emphasised that a
commuted sentence of life imprisonment would involve
imprisonment for the term of a man's natural life, subject
only to overriding humanitarian considerations, and stated that the Governor would normally commute to life imprisonment.
4.
It is also appropriate to make it clear that in
tendering advice in some cases recommending life imprisonment
I am myself influenced by a personal view that much the best
course in all cases is to substitute life imprisonment. My
view happens to coincide now with the substantial effect of
the Chief Secretary's statement, but Members may recall that
from time to time during the three years preceding that
statement I urged in Council the merit of a general policy of
substituting life imprisonment. This leaves the circumstances
of individual cases to be considered in due time by the
Governor with the advice of the Long Term Prisoners Board of
Review - on which there is unofficial representation, and of
which the Director of Medical and Health Services and a
representative of the Director of Social Welfare are members.
5.
I now turn to the Chief Secretary's statement. The
whole of his statement with respect to capital punishment is
at Annex A. The crucial part is as follows:
"In future, whenever he commutes a death
penalty, the Governor will impose the
alternative punishment of life
imprisonment, unless, in exceptional
circumstances, he feels able to accept
advice from the Executive Council that a
lesser sentence should be imposed."
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