Guyana

Guyana is an abolitionist de facto state, meaning it retains the death penalty in law but has not carried out an execution in more than a decade.

The last execution in Guyana occurred in 1997 and, in 2010, the automatic death penalty upon conviction for murder was abolished in the country. Despite this progress, Guyana still maintains a significantly larger death row population than any other regional jurisdiction where a death sentence is not the automatic punishment. For example, as many as seven death sentences were passed down in 2023 alone. This is in part because capital sentencing in Guyana is not well defined and relatively judge-centric.

We offer legal representation to prisoners on death row alongside ongoing political engagements and practical training efforts.

In partnership with the Justice Institute Guyana, in 2016 we provided an expert memorandum to the President of Guyana to encourage routes to abolition, and in 2018, contributed to a conference on the topic of abolition in Guyana with several Members of Parliament in attendance. Members of the European Union delegation, members of the Equal Justice Initiative (USA), members of the national assembly of Suriname and the British High Commissioner to Guyana were also present.

In 2019, we contributed to a judicial colloquium seeking to promote consistency in judges approaches to sentencing in death penalty cases. The colloquium focused on developing sentencing guidelines through discretionary sentencing, nuance of circumstances around offence and offender and resolving procedural and evidential issues in the sentencing process.

We continue to take action against the death penalty, which includes working with local legal teams to mount a direct challenge to the legality of the death penalty in Guyana.