TNAG-0723-FCO40-921-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1978 — Page 40

BACKGROUND NOTE

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

1. In 1965, when the death penalty was suspended in the UK, and again in 1970, when it was finally abolished here, all those dependent territories, which still retained capital punishment were invited to amend their legislation in the light of our own action. As a result, some did so, but seven territories have consistently refused and still retain the death penalty. The seven territories, with the dates when the last executions took

place in each one, are:-

Belize (1974)

Bermuda (1977)

British Virgin Islands (1972)

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both befor and afte

that date

Cayman Islands (1928)

Hong Kong (1966)

Montserrat (1960)

Turks and Caicos Islands (1946)

2. The death penalty is also retained in the Associated States (including Anguilla which is constitutionally part of the State of St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla).

3. The administration of justice in dependent territories is an internal matter in which the British Government does not usually

become involved. The Royal Prerogative of Mercy has been delegated to Governors, and although this does not empty The Queen of the power to exercise the Prerogative herself if she choose to do so, in practice the need for her, to do so is unlikely to arise.

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4. Under a policy emineiated in 1947 by the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Arthur Creech-Jones, and followed since then by successive British Governments, the Secretary of State does not advise Her Majesty to intervene except in the very rare event that a miscarriage of justice might otherwise take place. 5. The only exception to this policy arose in Hong Kong in 1973 at a time when Parliament was debating the question of capital

punishment in Northern Ireland. A capital sentence was passed in a case in Hong Kong and the Governor decided that there were no

and Commonwealth Secretary of the time decided that to allow an execution to take place in a British Dependent Territory could have

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