Article

The Challenge to the Mandatory Death Penalty in the Commonwealth Caribbean

By JOANNA HARRINGTON / American Journal of International Law, on 1 January 2004



The death penalty is a subject that, in the words of Justice Adrian Saunders of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, “invariably elicits passionate comment.” Such comment is particularly so within the states that make up the Commonwealth Caribbean, where rising rates of violent crime have led to strong public clamor for a swift and final response. The involvement of foreign courts and quasi-judicial international tribunals in limiting the actual use of the death penalty in the Caribbean has made the issue even more politically charged, leading to a strongly held perception that the judgments of these foreign bodies are unacceptable challenges to the very exercise of Caribbean national sovereignty.

  • Document type Article
  • Themes list Mandatory Death Penalty,



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