Death sentences are carried out by firing squad. President Kabbah has the authority to commute death sentences. In July, David Wilson was hanged in the city of Basseterre for the murder of a security guard. The last execution to be carried out in this state took place in 1981, when a man was put to death for the murder of a pregnant woman. The execution met with international protest, considered by the authorities of St. Kitts to be an intrusion on national sovereignty.
Polls indicate that the majority of the Caribbean population is in favour of capital punishment.
In August, two men convicted of murder were executed by firing squad in Gaza. These were the first executions to be carried out since the Territory was established in 1994. The sentences, upheld by Yasser Arafat, were carried out by 10 hooded police officers. A third man involved in the same murder had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour. On the 28th July 1998, the Supreme Court sentenced a woman to death for the first time.