Bowe v R

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Bowe v R
CourtJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
Full case nameForrester Bowe (Junior) and Trono Davis, Appellants v The Queen, Respondent
Decided8 March 2006
Citation(s)[2006] UKPC 10, [2002] 2 AC 235, [2006] 1 WLR 1623
Case history
Prior action(s)Court of Appeal of the Bahamas
Case opinions
Lord Bingham of Cornhill
Keywords
Capital punishment; inhuman or degrading punishment

Bowe v R is a 2006 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) case in which it was held that it was unconstitutional in the Bahamas for capital punishment to be the mandatory sentence for murder.[1] The JCPC held that because the Constitution of the Bahamas contains a qualified right to life and prohibits "inhuman or degrading punishment", following a murder conviction, a trial judge must have discretion to impose a lesser penalty than death by hanging; capital punishment may be applied only in those cases that contain aggravating factors as compared to other murder cases.

The result in the case reflected the findings R v Hughes, Fox v R, and Reyes v R, 2002 JCPC rulings from other Caribbean jurisdictions.

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References[edit]

  1. ^ Robinson, Tracy; Bulkan, Arif (2017). "Constitutional Comparisons by A Supranational Court in Flux: The Privy Council and Caribbean Bills of Rights". The Modern Law Review. 80 (3): 379–411. ISSN 0026-7961.

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