Capital punishment is barbaric and inhumane.

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Capital punishment is barbaric and inhumane and should not be re-introduced into Australia. Although capital punishment has been abolished, the debate on this topic has never abated. When a particularly heinous crime is committed, this debate arouses strong passions on both sides. Many who advocate the abolition of capital punishment consider the death penalty to be cruel and inhuman, while those who favor of punishment by death see it as a form of just retribution for the gravest of crimes. Determining whether Queensland should re-introduce capital punishment as a sentence will be the focus of this assignment.

Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered  of a prisoner as a  for a serious , often called a capital offence or a capital crime. In those jurisdictions that practice capital punishment, its use is usually restricted to a small number of criminal offences, principally,  and , that is, the deliberate premeditated killing of another person. In the early 18th and 19th century the death penalty was inflicted in many ways.  Some ways were, crucifixion, boiling in oil, drawing and quartering, impalement, beheading, burning alive, crushing, tearing asunder, stoning and drowning.  In the late 19th century the types of punishments were limited and only a few of them remained permissible by law.  In the 19th century capital punishment was to only be inflicted by the methods such as hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad and lethal injection.

The history of capital punishment in Australia is quite controversial and has been heavily debated since its abolition. From the start of the federation in 1901, approximately 1648 people had been legally executed for the punishment of 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”.  New South Wales and Western Australia carried on with the death penalty after 1973 for a few offences including piracy and treason but however eventually these anomalies were swept away with the passing of the Crimes Amendment Act, 1985. Now the sentence of life imprisonment has become the most severe sanction authorized in any state by Australian law.

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There are many controversies and problems which lead to the abolishment of the death penalty in Australia. Capital punishment can never be justified because it is destructive to society through its example of barbarity towards man. The death penalty has a brutalizing effect on the community, actually inspiring acts of violence or copycat crimes and thereby diminishing rather than increasing the deterrent effect of capital punishment. (Nathanson, 1987, p.13) It also does not provide an opportunity for rehabilitation or clemency of a criminal. The Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) ensures that offenders are given the opportunity to ...

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