Capital Punishment in Australia: History, Attitudes, and Debates

Running head: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 1
Capital Punishment
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Capital Punishment
Introduction
It is more than fifty years since the Australia’s execution. Ryan Ronald became the last
individual hanged by the neck to death on Feb 3, 1967 at the Pentridge Gaol, Melbourne for
murdering George Hodsonn, a prison officer. Hundreds of Australians campaigned against
Ryan’s hanging as well as death penalty (DP) as they cycled and protested outside the front gate.
Some men broke from the mainstream crowd, rushed at enormous roller-door gate and leaped
into air as they kicked at it. Following Ryan’s hanging, capital punishment stayed as the law in 5
of the 6 states (Anderson, 2016).
Queensland State had already abolished the practice in the year 1922, however, it was
reintroduced after a short while. Tasmania subsequently followed in the year 1968, subsequently
Victoria outlawed it in year 1975 after which South Australia abolished it in the year 1976. The
NSW alongside Western Australia abolished it in year 1984. In 1973, federal government
obliterated the practice in its territories while Crime Legislation Amendment (Torture
Prohibition and Death Penalty Abolition) Act 2010 deterred any territory or state from
reinstating capital punishment (CP). Australia has since eliminated death penalty and it is argued
in this paper that CP will never be re-introduced in the country (McCafferty, 2017).
Terrible incidents like the Port Arthur massacre, Bali nine ring leader’s execution have
reignited the debate of capital punishment. However, Australian attitudes and 2nd protocol
agreement between the Federal government and states are being stood on the agreement. All this
evidence suggests that Australia’s attitudes towards the death penalty will never be supportive.
The CP is defined as a legal death punishment for criminal law violation. An individual who gets
CP has committed a serious crime such as murder, drug trafficking, rape, and terror.

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The conventional CP methods globally include beheading, hanging, stoning, lethal
injection, electrocution as well as shooting. Although CP was gradually abolished in Australia,
the debate has arisen periodically when public outcry has erupted as a result of the commission
of heinous criminal acts. Acts of terrorism in other parts of the world and countries have recently
fuelled recent debate. Therefore, it is possible that the death penalty could be reinstated in
Australia if demanded by its citizens. But it is doubtful to be reintroduced because Australian
political, public, and media attitudes during the Bali Nine Ring leader’s execution and Port
Arthur were against the death penalty.
The DP became a formal law in Australia through British colonization, however, DP was
already being practiced as a customary law amongst certain Aboriginal cohorts before 1788
(Anderson, 2015). State executions were applied during the colonial period due to forgery,
sheep-stealing, burglary or murder. Ivan Pots alongside John indicated that over 1500 individuals
were executed between the years 1820 and 1900 (Han & O'Mahoney, 2018). This reliable
primary source is accurate and provides the facts about the death penalty in Australia; it
represents that the powerless majority was helpless and forced to follow the harsh laws during
British colonization (Anderson, 2015).
Later it hurt Australian society shown by London Sun published in 1847, the highlighted
bold text in the carton “Awful Execution” represents the changing sentiments which were
opposed. The highlighted text gives an emotional appeal to the audience during British
colonization, to act against the barbaric laws. Between 1901 and 1967, 114 executions were
performed by Australian states. However, the use of DP declined slowly in Australia with eighty-
one of the one-hundred and fourteen cases occurring in the first twenty years of federation. It
represents public and media influence on the Federal government to bring changes in the laws.

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During the 1980s the United Kingdom and Australia abolished the death penalty at the same
time, which represents strong relations to the United Kingdom.
Discussion
Q1. Australian Attitudes towards Capital Punishments before British Colonization
The capital punishment existed in Australia before the British colonization. However,
there were both opponents and proponents to the practice in Australia. The proponents were
mainly the Aboriginal who had incorporated it into their customary laws. This means that death
sentences before colonization was being performed under the customary law of Aboriginal
directly or via witchcraft (Bennett, 2018). In certain cases, the convicted were deprived of
morgue rites. The initial DP performed based on European law in the country occurred in in the
year 1969 in Western Australia where the authorities from the Dutch hanged Batavia insurgents.
However, the opponents of death penalty vehemently opposed it and stood active in the 19th
century. This is what led to the formation of Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment
(SACP) at the public gathering in the year 1869 in Sydney.
Refined: How British Colonization Influenced CP in the 1780 and Consequence
The British colonization of Australia made the death penalty a formal law unlike before
when it existed as a customary law of certain Aboriginal groups before 1788 (Choo, 2016). After
the British settlement, the capital punishment became an integral part of the Australia’s legal
system. British thus introduced a list of wrongdoings that carried the death sentence including
sexual assaults, sheep-stealing, burglary, forgery, manslaughter alongside murder and even a
single case of a person getting executed due to “being illegally at large.” In the course of the
nineteenth century, such wrongdoings saw nearly eighty individuals hanged every year in the
entire Australia. Subsequently, the state executions became widespread in the colonial era