There have been no executions in Trinidad and Tobago since November 1979, but there have been several recent attempts to reverse this, the most recent being on 24 March 1994. This document discusses the judicial process behind the death penalty and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) decision on Pratt and Morgan v Attorney General for Jamaica. It also examines the recent attempts to resume executions and the general death penalty debate, including the case of Kisoon Ramnanan. Two commissions, the Commission of Enquiry into Prisons and the Commission of Inquiry into the Death Penalty (the Prescott Commission), have recommended the abolition of mandatory death sentences; however, no steps have been taken to implement these recommendations. There is concern that in trying to please public opinion, the authorities are violating national and international law.
