Little Desire for Death Penalty

The governments of Barbados and six Eastern Caribbean states may find little opposition from their citizens if they removed the death penalty from the statute books, research has revealed.

This was one of the significant findings of a study conducted in 2020 that also involved 100 opinion formers in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The individuals of influence were drawn from politics and the higher civil service, criminal justice and legal practice, leadership of religious organisations and civil society.

Only one in five of the respondents thought there would be demonstrations of strong public dissatisfaction as well as repeated calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Moreover, they suggested that public expression of the dissatisfaction in the lead-up to the abolition would die down and most people would immediately accept the decision once the move had been completed.

The research shared in a paper entitled “Sentenced to Death

Without Execution – Why capital punishment has not yet

been abolished in the Eastern Caribbean and Barbados” was conducted by Dr. Florence Seemungal and the late Professor Roger Hood. It was co-funded by the European Union in partnership with The Death Penalty Project, The University of

the West Indies, the Greater Caribbean for Life,

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association

and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

The research findings were presented by Professor Carolyn Hoyle of the Centre for Criminology and Director of the Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford during an online event hosted by The UWI, Faculty of Law at Cave Hill on 23 November 2021, where it was discussed among key regional stakeholders.

Professor Hoyle said knowing what opinion formers understand about crime and justice and what they believe the death penalty provides that other non-irrevocable and more humane punishments may not is crucial to shaping discourse and, ultimately, policy.

According to the findings, just over half (52) of the opinion formers favoured the abolition of the death penalty, with those in the criminal justice or legal positions less supportive of the punitive measure than persons in any of the other categories. For those favouring retention, the most significant reason was it would act as a deterrent. In contrast, two-thirds of those who favoured abolition did not believe the death penalty had any extra deterrent effect.

Asked why governments had not abolished the measure, the majority of opinion formers said governments believe the public favours the death penalty and abolition would make them

Dr. Florence Seemungal The late Professor Roger Hood

unpopular. They also suggested that governments value national sovereignty and view their countries as culturally exceptional.

Questioned about what policies might best control violent crime, the overwhelming majority of respondents showed a preference for better educating young people against the use of violence.

“There is clearly not an appetite among opinion leaders to jump-start the death penalty in this region and, indeed, the findings of this report point in the other direction. Governments can really stop worrying about the public. They’re not likely to be well-informed about the administration of capital punishment, about the unacceptably high risks of it being arbitrary and unfair, about its failure to reduce serious crimes. And there’s really no evidence to suggest the death penalty can deter violent crime, but there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that it’s unfair, disproportionate, and arbitrarily applied to most disadvantaged and vulnerable defendants, not just to the worst of the worst,” Professor Hoyle said.

“Meantime, the region is stigmatised by holding on to a punishment that most other countries have abandoned without any ill effect. The region has proven it does not need the death penalty. There is, therefore, absolutely no rationale for keeping it on the books. All it does is damage the reputation of each country in the region among the international community.”

Of the countries surveyed, St. Kitts and Nevis was the last to carry out a death penalty execution in 2008. None of the other countries has carried on similar executions for over 20 years.

Co-Founder and Co-Executive

Director at The Death Penalty Project

Saul Lehrfreund said although all countries in the Commonwealth

Caribbean have retained the death penalty in law, they are in the minority globally where 109 have abolished it in law and a further eight have abolished it for ordinary crimes. While 81 countries still retain it, the United Nations has said that 50 have not carried this out in the last 10 years or more.

“Where does the Caribbean stand? As far as the diminution and the frequency of executions are concerned, the Caribbean is parallel with the global trends. What differs is the willingness to abolish the death penalty de jure, altogether. The question pertinent to the region is why countries resist the appeal to abolish the death penalty.”

Lehrfreund said this is an important human rights issue for which there has been a notable absence of political leadership in the region.

Dean in the Faculty of Law Professor Eddy Ventose said he expects the report to be useful to those interested in policy formulation concerning issues surrounding the death penalty in the Eastern Caribbean and the wider Caribbean in general.

“While progress has, indeed, been slow, this study provides some insight into the public perception on the retention of capital punishment in the Caribbean.

“Issues arising from litigation of the death penalty cases have been around even longer from DeFreitas v Benny in 1967, Pratt and Morgan in 1993, Newton Spence in 2000, and Nervais in 2018. While, no doubt, the Faculty of Law will be around for the next 50 years, I sincerely hope that the death penalty will not. In this small way, the Faculty of Law continues its outreach by assisting in such activities towards the complete abolishment of the death penalty.” l