Epilogue

The Epilogue assesses the aftermath of Britain’s decision to abolish the death penalty in the Caribbean Dependent Territories. It examines the mostly critical reactions of political leaders in the Caribbean and the events that led to abolition through local action in Hong Kong in 1993 and Bermuda in 1999. In the case of Hong Kong, Britain was ambivalent about the decision, which was influenced by the pending handover to China in 1997. By contrast, Britain’s new Labour government claimed it would impose abolition on Bermuda through Westminster legislation if local authorities did not act. Even so, abolition was a local initiative led by the Progressive Labour Party, which had opposed the death penalty since the 1970s. The Epilogue also considers the fate of the last condemned prisoners in British Dependent Territories, who were reprieved in the early 1990s and eventually released in the 2010s, and the legacy of colonial capital punishment on British death penalty policy.