Jamaica
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 · Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains...
- News items in the archive
- 122
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Jamaica 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 122 news items on Jamaica, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- MARCH 15, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International said that the circumstances surrounding...
Amnesty International said that the circumstances surrounding the shootings in Jamaica of Jevan Campbell, Douglas Rhoden, Gregory Sharp and Glenroy Stewart by police on March 6, 2002 amounted to extrajudicial executions
- MARCH 13, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaican Prime Minister P
Jamaican Prime Minister P
- MARCH 13, 2002JamaicaDEATH 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 13, 2002JamaicaDEATH 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, 2002JamaicaDEATH 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 30, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica, plagued by violence and struggling to control...
Jamaica, plagued by violence and struggling to control rising gun crime, should execute convicted arms smugglers, the nation's new minister of national security said
- JANUARY 15, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Opposition Jamaica Labour Party leader and former Prime...
Opposition Jamaica Labour Party leader and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga called for increased penalties for law-breakers, including capital punishment for drug-related crimes and terrorism
- JANUARY 9, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
The Jamaican government must take immediate action...
The Jamaican government must take immediate action to challenge impunity for those who kill - be they police or civilians, Amnesty International said
- JANUARY 3, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
The people of 100 Lane, north of the Jamaican capital...
The people of 100 Lane, north of the Jamaican capital Kingston, moved away from their community in droves with their household articles in trucks and vans following the shooting deaths of seven members of their community earlier in the morning by over 30
- JANUARY 1, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains...
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains the death penalty, but for which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal
- JANUARY 1, 2002JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
According to Amnesty International at least 52 people...
According to Amnesty International at least 52 people have been sentenced to death since the last execution in 1988 and December 2002
- OCTOBER 26, 2001JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Amid strident criticisms from the political opposition...
Amid strident criticisms from the political opposition and human rights activists, Jamaican police chief Francis Forbes ordered a review of the controversial police unit tasked with fighting organized crime and political gangs
- JULY 13, 2001JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called on all Jamaicans to oppose...
Amnesty International called on all Jamaicans to oppose the continuing tragedy of inter-community violence and human rights abuses by the security forces, in wake of the recent outbursts of violence in Jamaica
- FEBRUARY 14, 2001JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica signed an agreement during the opening of the...
Jamaica 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, 2001JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains...
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains the death penalty, but for which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2000JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Six convicted murderers in Jamaica were spared from...
Six convicted murderers in Jamaica were spared from hanging by a Privy Council ruling that all prisoners should be given access to the Jamaican Mercy Committee, the body which decides who will be executed and who should receive mercy
- AUGUST 29, 2000JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Following a decade of soaring violent crime rates,...
Following a decade of soaring violent crime rates, many Jamaicans were calling on the government to take a "zero tolerance" stance toward criminals
- JUNE 19, 2000JamaicaDEATH 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 that would replace the British Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal
- JANUARY 1, 2000JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains...
Jamaica is a British Independent Territory that retains the death penalty, but for which the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal
- NOVEMBER 5, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On November 5, speaking at the Third Committee of the...
On November 5, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), Alethia Barker referred to the draft resolution on the abolition of capital punishment to be introduced by the European Union and said I
- AUGUST 11, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On August 11, Prime Minister P
On August 11, Prime Minister P
- JULY 22, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
Jamaica signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed...
Jamaica signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council, in which the retentionist countries dissociated from the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/61 on the question of the death penalty
- JULY 1, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
In July, during a debate in the British Parliament...
In July, during a debate in the British Parliament on capital punishment in the Caribbean, Gerald Kaufman a Labour government backbencher said Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica received £20
- JUNE 4, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On June 4, Prime Minister Patterson, while visiting...
On June 4, Prime Minister Patterson, while visiting Toronto, said Jamaica was likely to resume executing death row prisoners, like Trinidad and Tobago
- JUNE 1, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
At the beginning of June, a death warrant was read...
At the beginning of June, a death warrant was read at the District Prison of St
- JANUARY 27, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On January 27, the Governor-General signed another...
On January 27, the Governor-General signed another death warrant for Lewis
- JANUARY 27, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On January 27, Christopher Brown, 28, who was scheduled...
On January 27, Christopher Brown, 28, who was scheduled to be hanged on January 28, was given a 4-day stay by Justice Ellis
- JANUARY 25, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On January 25, Justice Wesley James dismissed Patrick...
On January 25, Justice Wesley James dismissed Patrick Taylor's and Anthony McLeod's summonses complaining about the inhumane conditions in which they are being kept in prison
- JANUARY 21, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On January 21, Attorney General A
On January 21, Attorney General A
- JANUARY 7, 1999JamaicaDEATH PENALTY
On January 7, the Constitutional Court, comprising...
On January 7, the Constitutional Court, comprising Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, Justice Cooke and Justice Karl Harrison, heard and dismissed a motion filed by Neville Lewis against his prison conditions and the 6-month limit set by Governor General Howard