Amnesty International Report 1994 - St Vincent and the Grenadines
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Date:
1 January 1994
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
The death penalty for juvenile offenders was abolished. Three new death sentences were imposed. Seven people were under sentence of death but no executions were carried out.
On 5 August Parliament passed an amendment to the Criminal Code raising the age at which a death sentence may be imposed to 18 years at the time of the crime. In October 1989 the law had been changed to allow death sentences to be passed for anyone over 16. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in October.
Three people were sentenced to death between July and October after being convicted of murders committed in 1991 and 1992. There were no executions. At the end of the year there were seven people on death row.
In December Amnesty International wrote to the Prime Minister, James Mitchell, welcoming the abolition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders but urging the government to change the law to end the mandatory nature of the death penalty as a first step towards the total abolition of the death penalty. The organization also called for the commutation of all current death sentences.
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