BAHAMAS. GOV’T TO LEGISLATE DEATH SENTENCE GUIDELINES

September 19, 2007: the Government in the Bahamas plans to bring a bill to parliament which would outline sentencing guidelines for murder convicts, Attorney General Claire Hepburn revealed. Courts in the Bahamas continue to face challenges in sentencing murder convicts after the Privy Council last year ruled that the mandatory death sentence was unconstitutional.
Then Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said there was no need for laws to provide guidelines for trial judges. But President of the Court of Appeal Dame Joan Sawyer and Mrs Hepburn disagree. She said the plan is to have such a law passed before the end of the year and that there would be a range of sentences for murder convicts.
"These will range from the death penalty to life imprisonment or an even lesser sentence." (Sources: Bahama Journal, 19/09/2007)