Argument Against Capital Punishment in Australia

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Argumentative Essay on Capital Punishment in Australia 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 execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, 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, treason and murder, 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 Aust... ... middle of paper ... ...tions/tandi/tandi03.html. 6. Syme, D. (1997). Martin Bryant's Sentence- What the judge said, Retrieved 5 July, 2003, from http://www.geniac.net/portarthur/sentence.htm. 7. The Australian Encyclopaedia. (1996). Volume 2, Sixth Edition, Australian Geographic: New South Wales. 8. Victory, M. (2004). End of the Line- Capital Punishment in Australia, CIS Publishers: Victoria. 9. Woodgate, R., Black, A., Biggs, J., Owens, D. (2003). Legal Studies for Queensland, Volume 1, ForthEdition, Legal Eagle Publications: Queensland. 10. Woodgate, R., Black, A., Biggs, J., Owens, D. (2003). Legal Studies for Queensland, Volume 2, ForthEdition, Legal Eagle Publications: Queensland. 11. Msn Encarta (2007). Capital Punishment - The pros and cons. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570630/Capital_Punishment.html

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