TNAG-0721-FCO40-919-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 142

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

GEN 103 (78)

9 February 1978

COPY NO.

CABINET

MINISTERIAL GROUP ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

IN THE DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN DEPENDENT OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

Memorandum by the Secretary of State for

Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

1.

In GEN 103 on 13 October we agreed on the desirability of a change in policy concerning capital punishment in the dependent overseas territories.

2. In the Bermuda case the executions took place on 2 December 1977. They were followed by public disturbances and we had to send troop

reinforcements from Britain. The executions aroused considerable

Parliamentary, press and public interest here and we are now committed to a debate in the House on this question by Michael Foot's statement on 8 December and to a lesser extent by my answers following my statement of 5 December.

3. I have again considered ways in which our policy could be changed to have the desired effect. I have thought about making a personal appeal either to the local legislatures or to the Premiers to introduce their own legislation to abolish capital punishment. But I am confident that most of the governments, if not all, would reject such an appeal and if they did so this would make it very difficult for us subsequently to take any action contrary to so recent an expression of local wishes. I have reason to believe that

unilateral action taken by us would be better received.

4. The clearest, simplest and most satisfactory solution would be legislation in Parliament to abolish or suspend the death penalty for murder unilaterally throughout the dependent overseas territories. From the purely legal point of view this would be the best solution. But there are a number of inherent difficulties, not least of which would be the impossibility of finding Parliamentary time for a Bill