Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Grenada. Despite its legality, there have been no executions since 1978.[1][2] Grenada is considered "abolitionist in practice", and is currently the only country in The Americas in this category.[3] There is currently one person on death row in Grenada, as of August 30, 2021.[4] During its United Nations Universal Periodic Review on January 27, 2020, Grenada told the UN that it is a de facto abolitionist state with a de facto moratorium with effect since 1978, and that it will not carry out any executions.[5] Abolishing capital punishment in law was part of one of the amendments during the failed 2016 Grenadian constitutional referendum. Grenada voted against the United Nations moratorium on the death penalty in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016,[6] 2018, and most recently, in 2020.[7] Grenada is not a member state of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[8]

Notable examples of people sentenced to death in Grenada's history include Hudson Austin and Bernard Coard.

References

  1. ^ "Grenada".
  2. ^ "Abolitionist and retentionist countries (as of July 2018)". Amnesty International. October 23, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  3. ^ "Abolitionist and retentionist countries (as of July 2018)". Amnesty International. October 23, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "Grenada".
  5. ^ "Grenada tells Human Rights session that death penalty is prohibited | NOW Grenada". 27 January 2020.
  6. ^ "The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a 6th resolution calling for a universal moratorium on executions". 19 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Statement on the Adoption of the 8th UN General Assembly Resolution for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty". 17 December 2020.
  8. ^ "12. Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty". United Nations Treaty Collection. Retrieved July 22, 2022.


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