MR MURRAY'S VISIT TO HONG KONG: DISCUSSIONS WITH CHIEF SECRETARY/ ATTORNEY-GENERAL ON 24 SEPTEMBER
CAPITAL AND CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
Capital Punishment
1.
We do not know what policy the Government wish to adopt towards the question of capital punishment in the dependent territories, in the light of the recent rejection by the House of Commons of the proposal to reintroduce capital punishment for murder in this country. A submission will shortly be put to Minister indicating the options available which, as we see it, are:
(i) To maintain the "Creech-Jones doctrine", under which
Ministers in London do not intervene in local decisions;
(ii) to invite the Governors of those territories where capital
punishment still exists to introduce local legislation to abolish it;
(iii) to abolish capital punishment in all dependent territories
by legislative action in the UK.
2.
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It would be helpful to know whether, from the Hong Kong point of view, any one of these options is clearly preferable to the others. It would also be helpful to have an indication of likely local reactions to the various options, e.g.:
(a) If Ministers adopted option (i), would Exco continue to
recommend the commutation of all death sentences?
(b) Is there now any possibility that Legco would pass legis-
lation to abolish capital punishment, whether or not a specific request was made to the Governor?
(c) Would there be a strong local reaction if the abolition of
capital punishment were imposed by the UK Parliament?
/Background
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.