History of the Death Penalty in Aotearoa
Rebecca Mead
As the Athenian founder of Western political philosophy, Plato believed crime to be an incurable disease in which the criminal must face the repercussions of banishment or death. The philosopher’s reasoning was that such severe punishment was essential to protect civilisation from the criminal and to protect the criminal from a continued sad existence. In the modern age, the death penalty is thought to be a relic of barbarism. Seventy percent of countries have a likeminded view and have abolished capital punishment. The United States of America remains an outlier among most of its democratic allies. 12,542 kilometres away, New Zealand is more aligned with that of the global majority, and capital punishment has been abolished since 1961. As we approach the 64th anniversary of the last execution in New Zealand, it is a better time than ever to reflect on our country’s justice system, both past and present. Some of the content of this page have gruesome details, including that of sexual assault and murder, which may be sensitive for some readers.
The first person to be subjected to the death penalty in New Zealand was a young Māori man named Maketu. 115 years later, Walter James Bolton became the last person to be executed in New Zealand. Prior to 1862, the executions were held in public, and the spectacle tended to attract a large crowd. James Collins was the first criminal to be executed privately in accordance with the passing of the Execution of Criminals Act, 1858. The offences that were subjected to the death penalty were murder, treason, and piracy, in accordance with English common law. In total there were 83 executions. 82 of these were for murder, and one for treason. All capital punishment offences from 1935 commuted the punishment from execution to life in prison. In 1941, the Labour Party confirmed a policy which abolished the New Zealand death penalty. This abolition was short-lived. The National Party restored the punishment in 1950 and a further eight executions were carried out before Labour returned to office and made the death penalty inoperative from 1958. The official Abolition of the Death Penalty Act was passed in 1989. The death penalty was, and remains, a subject of debate among the community. Some deem the punishment to be barbaric and animalistic, whereas others believe it is justified in some cases. Amnesty International continues to fight to abolish the death penalty globally.
28.2% of people subjected to the death penalty in New Zealand were European, and 25.88% were Māori
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The majority of the criminals did not have a reported religion. However, out of those who did, the majority were Anglican or Roman Catholic.
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A total of 108 countries have completely abolished the death penalty and 55 countries still operate the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
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