Death Penalty Australia Essay

Australian society has ultimately rejected the idea of the practice of capital punishment making a return into the Australian law books. However, events such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Bali bombings have ensured that the spotlight once again shines on the controversial subject. I am in favour of the practice returning to Australia for heinous crimes such as murder, child molestation, serial rapists, and people who commit acts of animal cruelty. This is because:

Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. Since ancient times capital punishment has been a punishment for crimes like murder. Stoning, crucifixion, and drowning were old ways of carrying the death penalty out. Theses days some countries (the majority of the U.S.A., Iraq and others) say that they use more ‘humane’ ways of carrying out the death penalty. Theses include the electric chair, lethal injection and hanging. The death penalty in the U.K. has been abolished now since 1969 (1999 for treason and arson on a naval base). The last two people to be

That was until 1783 when the American War of Independence ended. When America refused to take in anymore convicts, the English were forced to take the prisoners somewhere else. Due to prisons overcrowding, they were still thinking where to put all these convict. Their solution, was to put them in old, rotting prison ship known as hulks. Hulks were normally old naval ships that could not go out into sea and fight but they were still able to safely float on the water in the harbour. Once all the hulks were full with convicts, they began shipping them out to Australia because they thought that no one owns the land and was big enough to hold convicts for many years. One other reason that they moved these criminals here was because their old system was very cruel and it really disturbed the public. Their system was to chop the head off of the criminal. Due to the finding of Australia, it gave the English a new opportunity, for both the expansion of the empire and a place to keep the convicts. The bringing back of the ancient method of banishment, reduced the population stress in the Western parts of Europe by the less horrific methods in the newly identified territories. This idea of banishing the criminals was the replacement for the death sentence. The death sentence was not fully removed, as it still existed for the people who committed major crimes. There was amnesty of the death sentence for the people that committed minor crimes.

The last person to be executed in Australia was Ronald Ryan at Pentridge Prison, Victoria in 1967.These figures are valid until 1985 when the death penalty was officially abolished by all states in Australia. The abolition of the death penalty occurred at a different time in each state, with Queensland being the first state to abolish capital punishment in 1922. This was followed by New South Wales in 1955, Tasmania in 1968, Northern Territory and Australia Capital Territory in 1973, Victoria in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and finally Western Australia was the last state to abolish capital punishment in 1984. Under Commonwealth law, the death penalty was abolished in 1973 by s.4 of the Death Penalty Abolition Act, 1973, which states "A person is not liable for the punishment of death for any offence".

INTRODUCTION- 56% of Australians agree that the death penalty should be reintroduced, as the Australian Debate.org clearly states. The death penalty is to intimidate others who are thinking about committing a crime. If we don't use the death penalty, what kind of punishment are we giving to make them pay for their crime? Putting them in prisons with TV’s, gyms and air-conditioned cells, and they are also cooked for! Criminals need to learn their lesson, by not just getting a slap on the wrist but a death sentence.

Since the last execution in Australia in 1967 of Ronald Ryan and the abolition of capital punishment in Australia in 1973 imprisonment has been the only option as a sanction for murder. A survey conducted in 2009 demonstrated that a clear majority of Australians (64%) believed that imprisonment should be the punishment for murder as opposed to 23% stating the death penalty should be used and 13% did not wish to comment. The death penalty is not an effective punishment for all cases and there has not been any solid evidence stating that it is a more effective deterrent than imprisonment. Furthermore capital punishment possesses the risk of executing the innocent, which has happened or almost happened numerous times in the past such as

The question whether capital punishment; a form of execution generally referred to death by decapitation, hanging, firing squad or lethal injection, that is used by legal systems across the world; should or should not be reintroduced into Australia is a very controversial issue amongst politics, the Australian legal system and the citizens of Australia. With a slightly higher majority of Australian citizens against capital punishment (54%) outweighing the number of people for it (46%) it is unlikely that this vengeful practice will be reintroduced into the Australian legal system over the next few years [http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/currentseries/mr/21-40/mr21/02_exec_summary.html], especially as the aspects of capital punishment would

After abolition of capital punishment in Australia, the imprisonment is considered as severe penalty. Life imprisonment is imposed mostly in cases of murders after considering the severity and circumstances of crime. Prisoners are to serve long period of their lives in jail with no hope or less hope to be released. The term life imprisonment changes jurisdiction to jurisdiction or state to state, as it can be sentence until death, twenty years or indeterminate period. The uncertainty here becomes more cruel. A few dies in prison committing suicide or natural death in prisons due to stressful and unnatural environment of prison. A long term isolation also changes attitude and behaviour in such a way that these prisoners become incapable to survive in normal society. Offenders who serve long time in prisons are also discriminated in our society whether in relation to social activities in community or employment matters. In Australia aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are victims of such discrimination and it can be the reason behind their growing population in Australian prisons. Thus life time sentencing has become an inhumane penalty and subject of important consideration at international level. Even harsh conditions results in higher rates of

The liberal ideology is based in the values of individualism, in that the individual themselves is important in their pursuit and struggle for freedom. There are some factors that are common in liberalism, some of which include: liberty, formation of equality and dominance of individuals in bearing within their society. This essay will discuss these ideas of liberalism in relation to how they support the controversial issue of capital punishment. Capital punishment is the sentencing of someone who has committed a serious offence to death. Capital punishment was practiced in Australia since the British colonisation and formally abolished when it was last used in 1967. Only in 2010 did federal legislation prohibit capital punishment in all Australian states and territories. The attitudes towards capital punishment are multidimensional and complex, which makes determining the public’s opinion a complicated issue. There has been research that has found that an individual’s attitude towards capital punishment is reflective of one’s ideological self-image. There is worry that liberals could ground retributive justice in concrete, in that they could enforce more if that’s what they feel the public is looking for. Another issue for both the public and the government is that many people are ignorant on the factual issues that have to do with the death penalty, which can affect people’s opinions and therefore their actions on the

Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin were the last two people to be killed executed due to capital punishment on December 11, 1962. Ronald Turpin was convicted of killing an officer when he stopped him after escaping a robbery. Arthur Lucas was convicted of murdering an undercover officer from Detroit in Toronto. After this in 1976, capital punishment was replaced, it went from execution to a life sentence without a possibility of parole for 25 years. The House of Commons voted for this bill to be passed. Although capital punishment it was removed from the Canadian criminal code it still remained in the Canadian National Defence Act for the most serious military offences such as treason and mutiny. In 1987, The bill was almost reintroduced by the Canadian House of Commons but was defeated in a vote. Finally, in 1998 the Canadian National Defence act abolished the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole before 25 years. This was the end of capital punishment in Canada forever. Although capital punishment is now completely illegal in Canada, it is legal in 32 states in America. Unlike Canada who only used one method of execution, America has used many more

A question that has been asked since the foundation of our country was made is, “Can the death penalty be considered Constitutional?” Thomas Jefferson was known to have written letters with the same topic. Now only thirty-one states, along with the federal government, still believe that the death penalty is within the boundaries of the Constitution. Twenty executions of the death penalty occurred last year, 2016, and approximately 1500 have since the 1970s (Pennekamp).

However, why should we as Australians allow violent criminals to stay on our streets to possibly harm others? The death penalty does not promote the murder is ok. The death penalty should be in our society to teach the younger generation that if you decide that you are going to commit such a terrible crime, e.g. rape and murder; then this is what is at the road for you. Research done by fearof.net, the fear of death is ranked number 12 out of 100 phobias. We can use the fear of death to our advantage, by scaring the younger generation out of murdering another human being; we can finally stop nearly all murders in Australia. The death penalty is not there to teach people that killing is right, it’s there to bring justice for what violent criminals have

The case of the Bali 9 caused a tremendous amount of controversy worldwide mainly for the reason that they were executed for what would be considered an less of an offense than other typical death penalty punishments. Andrew Chan and Myan Sukumaran were the leaders of the Bali Nine organization who were found guilty of attempting to smuggle more than 8 kg of heroin valued at about $4 million from Indonesia to Australia in 2005. Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death by firing squad and the other seven were sentenced to life

The Death Penalty has been used in the United States since the very foundation of our nation; the first recorded case was the execution of Captain George Kendall in 1608 in the Jamestown colony as it was believed Kendall was a spy (DPIC). Americans have seen executions throughout history and are somewhat exposed to the idea but the 21st century is a very different place than the 17th century. This century is a time of equality and rights for people of all

On the 17th of April 2005 a group of Australians who are known as the “Bali Nine,” foolishly planned to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin into Australia but, were intercepted by the Indonesian Police. They were condemned for their crime and now face the Death Penalty due to the Indonesian laws involving drug trafficking. Such cruel and barbaric laws ensure that life for those found guilty would be either hell in prison or life will be cut short for the perpetrators. Being young and foolish may result in severe consequences but taking away the life of any person for mistakes made is against humanity.