TNAG-0931-FCO40-1149-Capital-punishment-in-the-Dependent-Territories-1980 — Page 174

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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

HKG 380/2

BUNDAN PROKRY NO. 51 1 2 MAR 1980

DESK OFACER

INDEX

HKG 380/2

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PA

REGISTRY Action Taken

11 March 1980

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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

1.

You will recall that in his letter of 4 April 1978 the PUS wrote to all Officers Administering Governments to say that Ministers had considered whether the time had come to abrogate the Creech-Jones doctrine on capital punishment in dependent territories overseas, and had decided to defer any policy decision on the matter. The question arose again at

the January 1979 Caribbean Governors' Conference.

2. Ministers have recently considered the whole matter again in great detail and have decided on a policy of letting sleeping dogs lie: as the PUS commented, this is "an excessively delicate and tricky question". You will wish to know therefore that for the time being the Creech-Jones doctrine stands unchanged.

3. I fully appreciate that this decision means that Officers Administering Governments must continue to bear a particularly onerous burden. However, I can assure you that all possible alternatives have been examined with the greatest care.

4.

This letter is addressed to Officers Administering Governments at Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands; copies go also to Anguilla, Deputy British Government Representative Antigua, High Commissioner Bridgetown, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, St Helena, British Resident Commissioner New Hebrides and Wellington for information.

Mr Stratton

R D Clift

Hong Kong and General Department

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL