The Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Constitutions offers a detailed and analytical view of the constitutions of the Caribbean region, examining the constitutional development of its diverse countries. The Handbook explains the features of the region's constitutions and examines themes emerging from the Caribbean's experience with constitutional interpretation and reform.0Part I, 'Caribbean Constitutions in the World', highlights what is distinctive about the constitutions of the Caribbean. Part II covers the constitutions of the Caribbean in detail, offering a rich analysis of the constitutional history, design, controversies, and future challenges in each country or group of countries. Each chapter in this section addresses topics such as the impact of key historical and political events on the constitutional landscape for the jurisdiction, a systematic account of the interaction between the legislature and the executive, the civil service, the electoral system,0and the independence of the judiciary.0Part III addresses fundamental rights debates and developments in the region, including the death penalty and socio-economic rights. Finally, Part IV features critical reflections on the challenges and prospects for the region, including the work of the Caribbean Court of Justice and the future of constitutional reform.0This is the first book of its kind, bringing together in a single volume a comprehensive review of the constitutional development of the entire Caribbean region, from the Bahamas in the north to Guyana and Suriname in South America, and all the islands in between. While written in English, the book embraces the linguistic and cultural diversity of the region, and covers the Anglophone Caribbean as well as the Spanish-, French-, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. The UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions calling on member states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. However, the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, have consistently opposed such international initiatives for worldwide abolition. Although executions are rare in the English-speaking Caribbean, death sentences continue to be handed down. This report counters the myth that the death penalty is an effective deterrent by highlighting the lack of any convincing evidence that it reduces violent crime. It also looks at how countries of the English-speaking Caribbean continue to fall short of their international human rights obligations and indeed of their own laws, for example by sentencing people with mental disability to death. It also examines how people facing the death penalty are denied due process, including through the use of the mandatory death sentence in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The report ends with a series of recommendations to the authorities, calling on them to fulfill their international human rights obligations.

Essay aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Kulturwissenschaften - Karibik, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: With the rise in the number of murders in the country, there have been subsequent calls not only by the present government but also by members of the public to reinstate the death penalty as a means of combating the escalating crime situation and thus punishing offenders for their actions. This paper seeks to firstly highlight the current state of the law regarding the death penalty. In addition, the strategic barriers that continue to exist which subsequently prevent the state from carrying out the death sentence will also be examined. Such barriers, though they may prove to be a challenge for any state that intends on retaining the death penalty, can however be removed and reformations can be made possible in order to make the death sentence effective.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the right to life. The UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions calling on member states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. However, the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, have consistently opposed such international initiatives for worldwide abolition. Although executions are rare in the English-speaking Caribbean, death sentences continue to be handed down. This report counters the myth that the death penalty is an effective deterrent by highlighting the lack of any convincing evidence that it reduces violent crime. It also looks at how countries of the English-speaking Caribbean continue to fall short of their international human rights obligations and indeed of their own laws, for example by sentencing people with mental disability to death. It also examines how people facing the death penalty are denied due process, including through the use of the mandatory death sentence in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The report ends with a series of recommendations to the authorities, calling on them to fulfill their international human rights obligations.

"The Death Penalty in the Caribbean is a novel, thought-provoking and timely contribution to the contentious debate of the Death Penalty in the Anglophone Caribbean. This book is directed at policy makers, law enforcement practitioners and scholars, and is a must read for students of criminology, international relations, political science and security studies for the light it sheds on this complex matter." -Dr. Suzette A. Haughton, senior lecturer of international relations and security studies, Department of Government, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. "The Death Penalty in the Caribbean is a clarion call to police leaders and police officers to share their views on the viability of the death penalty as a crime control mechanism for the Caribbean. The book presents cogent and reasoned discussions which are worthy of stimulating future discourse among policy makers, police leaders and academics and is very encouraging for the development of a Caribbean Jurisprudence." -Stephen Williams, Commissioner of Police, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Many individuals have yearned to hear the voices of the often voiceless police leaders in the Caribbean. With this in mind, two controversial topics, policing and the death penalty, are skillfully interwoven into one book in order to respond to this lacuna in the region. The book carries you through a disparate range of emotions, thoughts, frustrations, successes and views as espoused by police leaders throughout the Caribbean. The book is a riveting read that will quench readers' thirst for knowledge on the death penalty and policing as viewed through the lens of police practitioners. This book is a must read for students of criminology, law, police sciences as well as man on the street and is a great opportunity to listen to the voices of Caribbean police leaders as they bare it all for the readers. If you are interested in understanding the challenges faced by police officers, crime prevention and reduction strategies and the efficacy of the death penalty in the Caribbean, then this is a book for you. Dr. Wendell C. Wallace is a Criminologist, Barrister and a Certified Mediator who also has over 15 years of progressive policing experience. These unique qualifications have placed him in a prime position to deliberate on the myriad of crime related issues such as the Death Penalty, obstacles to policing and crime prevention and reduction strategies that confront Caribbean countries and their police departments.

Capital punishment is a debate that grips civil society anew with every incidence of homicide. The cry from a majority of stakeholders is a desperate plea to enforce the death penalty which has been derogated by the courts, at home and abroad. The abatement of capital punishment takes place amidst a tidal wave of unrelenting crimes against the person, namely murder. The branches of government seem bereft at best to provide a remedy and at worse unable to enforce the law as it relates capital punishment in the Bahamas. Added to this is an uneasy public whose trust in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government is noticeably waning. Additionally, outside forces, led by abolitionists, are bearing down on the Bahamas with a view of nudging the nation and the Caribbean into an era of life imprisonment for murder as opposed to death by hanging as its penalty. Toote sets forth these issues with striking clarity, offering practical remedies to help settle the controversy surrounding the death penalty in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. 'Capital Punishment in the Bahamas and the Caribbean' in light of the Privy Council's moratorium is required reading for all who desire an appreciation of the subject of capital punishment, including students, religious leaders and professionals in the legal arena.

"There has been very little public intellectual discourse in the Commonwealth Caribbean on one of the most vexing issues of the criminal justice system: the retention of the death penalty as a punishment. In The Death Penalty and Human Rights, Sir Fred Phillips examines the changing nature of Caribbean jurisprudence away from the acceptance of the death penalty as a mandatory punishment in contrast to the prevailing dictates of political will which advocate for its retention. On the international landscape, it is generally accepted that the death penalty runs contrary to the right to humane treatment enshrined in several treaties and Conventions to which the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean are signatories. Using the celebrated Jamaican case of Pratt and Morgan, the book examines and discusses the cases of the past two decades which have led to the changing jurisprudence on this life and death issue. Unapologetic in the arguments for abolition of the death penalty, The Death Penalty and Human Rights is a concise examination of a sensitive yet important aspect of Caribbean jurisprudence. "