TNAG-0720-FCO40-918-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 86

CONFIDENTIAL

92

нка

RECEIVED M

38671

YRO. 51

- 8 FEB 1978

DESK OFFRA

FA

REGISTRY

Action Take

J.J. I EL

Ministing Hick

PS/PUS PS/Mr Rowlands

INDEX

No

PS

Flag A

1.

Flag B

Flag C

169

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee GEN 103 on 13 October, Ministers concluded that although they wished to change the present policy on capital punishment in the Dependent Overseas Territories (DoTs) this should not be done while the Bermuda case

was under consideration. After the executions of 2 December there

were public disturbances in Bermuda and, before and after, much public and parliamentary comment in Britain and pressure on the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has said that he would like to submit a paper to his colleagues in GEN 103 on how the policy should be changed.

2.

The Bermuda case has underlined the need to change the present policy quickly before another similar case comes up for consideration. We may face another Bermuda-type situation in March, with a death sentence in the British Virgin Islands. We must also take account of the situation in Hong Kong. The Secretary of State has said that the position must be held. On one occasion in 1973 the Creech-Jones doctrine was breached there to commute a death sentence from London; since then the Governor has

commuted all capital sentences. However, the Governor has often had difficulty in achieving a majority in his Executive Council for commutation. The Bermuda case has been widely discussed in Hong Kong and, when next a capital case comes up in which no mitigating circumstances exist, the Governor will find greater difficulty than in the past in resisting local demands to allow the law to take its course. Quick action over the general policy for dependencies will make the Governor's position easier.

3.

It seems that there are only three possible ways in which the present policy can be changed: by legislation in the British Parliament; by persuading the governments of those territories

/ which

CONFIDENTIAL