This assignment provides an overview of the media coverage regarding Australia’s decision to do away with capital punishment and the debate as how effective the Australian stance on the abolition of the death sentence world-wide should be, engages in a literature review on the subject of the death penalty and its relevance and significance and provides a number of recommendations that ought to be considered by the Australian parliament when faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to incorporate the barbaric system of capital punishment into the Australian legal system once again.