Should Australia Re-Introduce Capitol Punishment?
Should Australia re-introduce capitol punishment?
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. As of 2010, methods permitted for use include beheading, electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, lethal injection, and shooting.
Death sentences were carried out under Aboriginal customary law. The first executions carried out under European law in Australia took place in Western Australia in 1629, when Dutch authorities hanged the mutineers of Batavia, a Dutch East India Company ship.
Capital punishment has been part of the legal system of Australia since British settlement. During the 19th century, numerous capital offences saw about 80 people hanged each year throughout Australia. Before and after federation, each state made its own criminal laws and punishments.
Capital punishment has been formally abolished in Australia. It was last used in 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hanged in Victoria. Prior to his execution, Queensland and New South Wales had already abolished the death penalty for murder. Brenda Hodge became the last person sentenced to death in August 1984. Her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment and she was paroled in 1995. Between Ryan's execution and 1984, occasional death sentences were passed in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, but were commuted to life imprisonment. In 2010, federal legislation prohibited capital punishment in all Australian states and territories.
Today, although many nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place, such as the People's Republic of China, India, the United States of America, and Indonesia, the four
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. As of 2010, methods permitted for use include beheading, electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, lethal injection, and shooting.
Death sentences were carried out under Aboriginal customary law. The first executions carried out under European law in Australia took place in Western Australia in 1629, when Dutch authorities hanged the mutineers of Batavia, a Dutch East India Company ship.
Capital punishment has been part of the legal system of Australia since British settlement. During the 19th century, numerous capital offences saw about 80 people hanged each year throughout Australia. Before and after federation, each state made its own criminal laws and punishments.
Capital punishment has been formally abolished in Australia. It was last used in 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hanged in Victoria. Prior to his execution, Queensland and New South Wales had already abolished the death penalty for murder. Brenda Hodge became the last person sentenced to death in August 1984. Her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment and she was paroled in 1995. Between Ryan's execution and 1984, occasional death sentences were passed in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, but were commuted to life imprisonment. In 2010, federal legislation prohibited capital punishment in all Australian states and territories.
Today, although many nations have abolished capital punishment, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place, such as the People's Republic of China, India, the United States of America, and Indonesia, the four