TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: PRO DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION TABLED IN T&T

the government in Trinidad & Tobago tabled legislation to remove obstacles to the death penalty. The Constitution (Amendment) (Capital Offences) Bill, 2011, seeks to categorise the crime of murder. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a statement in the House of Representatives that the legislation would allow for three categories of murder. “We intend to restrict the mandatory imposition of the death sentence in relation to murder (category) 1,” she added. That category will include the murder of a member of the T&T security forces, prison officer, a judicial or legal officer. She said murders of families and witnesses in court proceedings also would fall under murder category 1. She said in category 2 a person will be hanged if they committed more than one murder in T&T.