Lecture Series „Out of the Dark“: Saul Lehrfreund (The Death Penalty Project): “The death penalty – Commonwealth trends, judicial reforms and future challenges”

In recent years the judiciary in many retentionist Commonwealth countries have been active in reforming outdated death penalty laws. This represents a clear shift from a historical period of judicial abstinence to one of judicial intervention. This has been exemplified by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which has imposed strict limitations on the use of the death penalty in the Caribbean in accordance with international human rights standards. Whilst not removing the colonial legacy of capital punishment in former British colonies altogether, a number of restrictions have been imposed on the use of capital punishment which has had a profound effect – saving lives and creating jurisprudence that has persuaded other constitutional courts throughout the Commonwealth to apply similar limitations on the use of capital punishment: a process which has been characterised as the “harmonisation of death penalty regimes across borders”. The judiciary have stopped short of prohibiting the death penalty altogether, which is ultimately a political decision, and certain obstacles will need to be overcome before abolition can become a reality in those states who retain capital punishment.

Saul Lehrfreund is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty Project, a legal action charity, based at the London law firm Simons Muirhead and Burton.  Since 1992, Saul has represented prisoners facing the death penalty in criminal and constitutional proceedings before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He also specialises in international human rights law and has represented prisoners sentenced to death before the United Nations Human Rights Committee and has appeared in proceedings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. Saul regularly assists and provides support to lawyers representing prisoners facing the death penalty in retentionist Commonwealth countries.