Evidence in Support of Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is now one of the few nations in the world that retains in its law the mandatory death penalty for murder, even though there have been no executions for murder for over 20 years— since 1999. In 2015, 21 men were mandatorily sentenced to death in Trinidad and Tobago and, at present, it is believed that about 45 prisoners are on ‘death row’ under sentence of death.

This briefing note, published in 2021 presented the key findings from our three previous studies undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago, listed and available to view online below.

In 2006, The Death Penalty Project commissioned Professor Roger Hood, Emeritus Professor of Criminology at Oxford University, along with Dr Florence Seemungal, to design and report on the findings from an empirical investigation into the administration of the mandatory death penalty in Trinidad and Tobago. 

In 2009, The Death Penalty Project commissioned the pair to produce a second report, an opinion survey of key stakeholders on the problems associated with the administration of the death penalty in Trinidad & Tobago.

In 2011, a third report was commissioned: Public Opinion on the Mandatory Death Penalty in Trinidad. The research was fully supported throughout by the Faculty of Law at the University of West Indies, St Augustine Campus, and carried out with the approval of the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago, including the Chief Justice, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commissioner of Police, the Chief Magistrate and the Commissioner of Prisons.