The Death Penalty Project

About us: An overview

The project was formerly a project of Simons Muirhead & Burton, Solicitors, and Penal Reform International, a UK not-for-profit organisation. The project is now established in its own right as an independent NGO with a connected charity, The Death Penalty Project Charitable Trust.

Since 1992, the project has succeeded in restricting the implementation of the death penalty in the Caribbean through a number of landmark cases such as Pratt & Morgan, Neville Lewis and Hughes, Reyes and Fox. These decisions have limited the circumstances in which the death penalty can be imposed or carried out on those charged and convicted of murder. The leading cases undertaken by the project are set out in greater detail on the litigation and resources. pages.

Since 2003, the project has also been assisting lawyers and NGOs in a number of African countries (Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi) in criminal and constitutional cases being brought on behalf of prisoners facing the death penalty.

The project has now been run for more than 10 years by Executive Directors, Saul Lehrfreund and Parvais Jabbar. They are experts in representing prisoners under sentence of death and are specialists in the fields of domestic and international human rights law.

The project seeks to achieve its purposes through the following complementary activities:

· Free legal representation - The project provides free legal representation to those who would otherwise not have access to legal advice and representation. The recipients are under sentence of death, have no or inadequate means and there is no legal aid.

· Education and professional training - The project trains other lawyers and NGOs in domestic and human rights law as it relates to the death penalty. The training programs are designed to enhance the quality of legal representation for those facing the death penalty, thus ensuring long term sustainability in retentionist countries.

· Research - The project develops and commissions research studies on homicide and related topics concerned with the administration of justice and the use of the death penalty. Research data and statistics are analysed and related reports are disseminated by the project through lectures, seminars, articles and the distribution of reports to civil society organisations, universities and relevant government departments.