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NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
CONFIDENTIAL
on prerogative powers as a back-door way of
changing the law.
Summary and Recommendations
9. Thus, nine dependent territories still have the
death penalty, six have abolished it, and one has
suspended it until 1975. We could legislate for abolit-
ion in the UK or legislation could be enacted locally.
The former is undesirable and there are difficulties
about the latter. It may be better to rely on a
gradual process of precept and example form the UA and
the slow education of public opinion in the territories
which remain attached to the idea of capital punishment
rather than to enforce metropolitan views in
defiance of local sentiment.
An alternative night be
to let it be known that in every case where a person
under capital sentence petitioned The Queen She would a
a matter of policy invariably be advised to exercise üls
Prerogative of hercy. There might, however, be
objections of principle to using this as a permanent
instrument for securing the objective of nullifying the
death penalty; though it might be used for, say, a trial
period after which the position would be further
reviewed. In sum, although it would be technically
possible for HG effectively to abolish capital
punishment in Dependent Territories. There are in fact
considerable practical and political difficulties in thị
way of doing so.
CONFIDENTIAL
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