FEBAAO/1
DEPENDENT TERRITORIES:
CONFIDENTIAL
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
NOTE BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND
COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
1. Capital punishment for murder is retained in seven of
our Dependent Territories: the five in the Caribbean in Bermuda and Hong Kong. There is no capital punishment in
the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, St Helena or Pitcairn.
The issue is: -
a)
Should we take action to stop executions in the Dependent Territories?
b) If so,
how best can we proceed and minimise
controversy?
c)
What should be the scope of our action and when
should we take it?
2.
We need to act because:
i) The incidence of murder has increased and is
likely to continue increasing with the growth of drugs related crime and greater external pressures upon small traditional societies. Murders cannot be
treated on an ad hoc basis as isolated incidents.
ii) Local juries and Mercy Committees are (are) known to apply double standards, demanding a harsher
penalty for murderers from off-island and a lesser
sentence for one of their own.
CONFIDENTIAL
(iii)