Death Penalty in Australia

Running head: DEATH PENALTY IN AUSTRALIA
Death Penalty in Australia
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DEATH PENALTY IN AUSTRALIA
Death sentence has been revoked from Australia in all the jurisdictions in 1922
(Kornhauser,2013). The last person to be executed in Australia was Ronald Ryan in 1967 for
killing a prison guard in an attempt of prison break (Malkani,2013). Since then a lot of
speculations has been made regarding the reintroduction of the death penalty. Since the
abolishment of the death penalty in Australia it has been found that the rate of homicide and
murders has not risen in the country, suggesting the criminals are not affected by the execution
of the crime. This essay is intending to argue that death penalty is not a necessary option for the
government of Australia to reintroduce as well as it will also examine the debatable issues
through counterpoints too.
One of the major problems and fears which is faced by a country when the capital
punishment is abolished is the increase in the number of crimes but it has been seen that the
crime rates in Australia has remain the same since the death penalty has been removed. In a data
research done in Queensland, it is found that there were a total of 131 murders in the decade
earlier to the removal of the death penalty whereas there were a total of 129 murders in a decade
prior to the removal of the death sentence (Reckless,2017). This data clearly shows that there has
been no increase in the murders and homicides in the state. Not only Queensland but also in
other major states there has been no increase in the rate of crimes which clearly shows that there
is no need to introduce death penalty in the country again (Treloar,2013). It is the Australian
government revenue which would be mostly affected when the death sentence will come back
since capital punishment is more expensive as compared to life imprisonment. It is believed by
many people that life imprisonment is more costly as compared to death sentence but in reality it
is actually the opposite. An organization namely The Australian Coalition against Death Penalty
(ACADP) which is dedicated towards abolishing death penalty from the country permanently has

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DEATH PENALTY IN AUSTRALIA
stated that a single case of capital sentence costs around $5.5 million whereas a case of life
imprisonment for thirty years will cost around $1.5 million (Brown,2013). Though the cost can
be reduced by various ways but there rises the chance of giving death penalty to an innocent
person. The cost saved from giving imprisonment to a criminal can be used in a better way by
improving the system of criminal justice.
Major reasons for not introducing death penalty in the country is the reduction in the risk
of executing an innocent person. In the past it has been seen that Australia has been wrong in
sentencing someone to death. The last person to be hanged in Australia namely Ronald Ryan did
not kill the security guard since the gun used in the accused act was jammed so there was no
possibility that he could have shot the security guard (Trevaskes,2013). This evidence shows that
Australia must refrain itself from introducing the death penalty in its jurisdiction again since the
last person who was hanged was evidently innocent. Death penalty is basically denying the
human rights to an individual and it clearly violates an individual’s right to life and it does not
justify the killing of innocent individuals (Mathias,2013). Death being irreversible eradicates the
scope of amending once it is done, thus if there is a slight chance that there can be an error of
judgment then it might lead to the death of an innocent person. The methods which are used for
executing as well as the capital punishment are mostly painful and humiliating which acts a
strong argument point against bringing back the death sentence. Effects of being in a death row
tends to be there for a long time, sometimes for even a decade, which in turn ruptures the human
rights policy (Kim,2016). At present there is no actual evidence which can state that death
penalty is the most effective way to reduce crimes. The introduction of death penalty will go
against the chance of rehabilitation and is considered to go against and is not fair for the ones
who are suffering from mental as well as cognitive impairments. The sanctity of the human life