Barbados
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist de facto
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason...
- News items in the archive
- 68
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Barbados is classified as Abolitionist de facto in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 68 news items on Barbados, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JANUARY 1, 2006BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
- JULY 26, 2005BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
BARBADOS. FIRST DEATH PENALTY CASE TO GO NEW CARIBBEAN COURT
Barbados will take the first death penalty case to the Caribbean court that replaced the colonial-era Privy Council as the country's highest court of appeal, Barbados Attorney- General Mia Mottley said.
- MAY 23, 2005BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
BARBADOS. HUGGINS GETS STAY OF EXECUTION
29 year old Michael Mcdonald Huggins, set to die in Barbados on May 23 for murder, was temporarily spared from execution.
- APRIL 16, 2005BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
CARIBBEAN. LEADERS INAUGURATE OWN COURT OF JUSTICE
Caribbean leaders inaugurated a court that would serve as the highest judicial body for much of the region, a step toward shedding their 170-year-old dependence on Britain's Privy Council that many had resented as a vestige of colonialism.
- FEBRUARY 12, 2005BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
the Barbados High Court granted a stay of execution for Frederick Atkins
the Barbados High Court granted a stay of execution for Frederick Atkins
- JANUARY 1, 2005BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Two men sentenced to hang in Bridgetown's Glendairy...
Two men sentenced to hang in Bridgetown's Glendairy Prison, Barbados, September 21, received a stay of execution
- JULY 17, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The justice and peace commission of the Roman Catholic...
The justice and peace commission of the Roman Catholic diocese in Barbados renewed calls for a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty, following a Privy Council ruling that the death sentence in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago was constitu
- JULY 9, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
There was mixed Caribbean reaction to three separate...
There was mixed Caribbean reaction to three separate decisions handed down by the London-based Privy Council in death penalty
- JULY 6, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The mandatory death penalty for murder in Jamaica was...
The mandatory death penalty for murder in Jamaica was abolished, winning a reprieve for more than 60 prisoners on death row, in a historic judgment from nine judges sitting in London
- JUNE 8, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The London-based Privy Council was expected to hand...
The London-based Privy Council was expected to hand down a ruling that would affect the imposition of the death penalty in several Caribbean countries, according to a statement issued by the Barbados government
- APRIL 11, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
Barbados retains a mandatory death penalty or murder and treason.
- MARCH 22, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The campaign had been spearheaded by the London law...
The campaign had been spearheaded by the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton, which represented three of the four men appeal including, Charles Matthews, from Trinidad, and Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph, from Barbados
- MARCH 22, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that hundreds of death row prisoners...
It was reported that hundreds of death row prisoners in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica could win a reprieve if an unprecedented privy council hearing beginning in London ruled that the mandatory death penalty for murder was unconstitutional
- MARCH 22, 2004BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The appeal was the culmination of a strategy deployed...
The appeal was the culmination of a strategy deployed over the last six years by English lawyers working free of charge on behalf of Caribbean death row inmates
- JANUARY 1, 2003BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason...
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason - but not for mutiny
- OCTOBER 5, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
With 726 violent deaths since January in a country of 2
With 726 violent deaths since January in a country of 2
- OCTOBER 1, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados
Barbados
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados passed a pro-hanging constitutional amendment...
Barbados passed a pro-hanging constitutional amendment and Belize expects to do so by December
- AUGUST 13, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The Barbados parliament passed a constitutional amendment...
The Barbados parliament passed a constitutional amendment removing restrictions to the death penalty, with Attorney General Mia Mottley warning that the changes will not result in any immediate resumption of hangings on the island
- AUGUST 2, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Caribbean Justice, a group working for the abolition...
Caribbean Justice, a group working for the abolition of the death penalty, condemned plans by Barbados to amend its constitution in order to circumvent death penalty rulings by the British Privy Council, the highest court in the country
- JUNE 29, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The High Court of Barbados granted a stay of execution...
The High Court of Barbados granted a stay of execution for four prisoners who were to have been hanged on July 2 in the Caribbean nation's first executions since 1984
- MARCH 15, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Several governments in the Caribbean are expected to...
Several governments in the Caribbean are expected to speed up plans to establish a regional court after a ruling by Britain's Privy Council that the mandatory death penalty is in violation of the constitutions of several countries
- MARCH 13, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Human rights lawyers in the Carribean applauded the...
Human rights lawyers in the Carribean applauded the ruling by Britain's Privy Council judges that the mandatory death penalty is unconstitutional in seven Caribbean countries
- MARCH 11, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC)...
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) delivered judgments in the appeals of Peter Hughes (St Lucia), Berthill Fox (St Kitts and Nevis) and Patrick Reyes (Belize)
- JANUARY 1, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason...
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason - but not for mutiny
- JANUARY 1, 2002BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The county's Constitution has been changed to allow...
The county's Constitution has been changed to allow hangings to take place as quickly as possible after the exhaustion of domestic appeals
- FEBRUARY 14, 2001BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Barbados signed an agreement during the opening of...
Barbados signed an agreement during the opening of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) leaders' 12th inter-sessional summit to establish a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)
- JANUARY 1, 2001BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason...
The death penalty is mandatory for murder and treason - but not for mutiny
- JUNE 19, 2000BarbadosDEATH PENALTY
Law officials from the Caribbean Community (Caricom)...
Law officials from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations met in Jamaica to discuss how to set up and pay for a proposed Caribbean court to replace the British Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal