Essay

"Should the death penalty be brought back in Australia?"

The debate for restoration of the death penalty in Australia has been ongoing since the 1985 abolishment of capital punishment in Australia. Following the abolishment of capital punishment, Australia has not seen any rise in the number of homicides and murders, suggesting that execution does not deter criminals. Each time another heinous crime is committed, public outcry reignites the debate on the reintroduction of the death penalty. In Australia today many obstacles are preventing the restoration of the death penalty including the high cost of capital punishment and the history of innocent people being executed however recent political leaders have mentioned that the return of the death penalty could be appropriate. The death penalty was abolished in Australia decades ago but the battle against capital punishment was left incomplete.

Since the abolishment of the death penalty in Australia, Australia has seen no dramatic rise to the number of homicides and murders.

Map Of Capital Punishment in Australia

Death-penalty

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One of the major fears when abolishing capital punishment was an increasing number of murders. This is evident in the Australian Institute of Criminology's article: "The argument for capital punishment usually hinges on the fear of increasing murder rates. Yet in Queensland, for example, in the decade prior to the abolition of capital punishment (1912-21), there were 131 murders, whereas in the decade following abolition (1923-32) there were 129 murders." (Potas and Walker: 1987) This information clearly shows that the abolishment of the death penalty did not lead to an increase in homicides and murders in Queensland. Table 4 (Potas and Walker: 1987) on the Australian Institute of Criminology article also shows the effects of the abolishment on conviction rates for murder and manslaughter in the major states in Australia. From this graph, it is evident that...