Death penalty in New Zealand

The death penalty was first introduced into New Zealand law when New Zealand became British territory in 1840 . It was first applied in 1842 and last implemented in 1957. It was abolished in 1961 as a punishment for murder and for other offenses, including treason, in 1989. A total of 85 executions were carried out during the death penalty .

Method of execution

The execution was carried out by hanging . The executions initially took place in different locations across the country, later only in the capital, Wellington (usually at Mount Eden Prison ) and Auckland (usually at Mount Crawford Prison ). In the beginning there was no professional executioner , a person who seemed suitable was simply chosen. Occasionally convicted criminals were also used as executioners, often in exchange for reduced sentences or monetary payments. The executions initially took place in public, but from 1862 onwards they were closed to the public.

In 1877 the sheriff of Blenheim recommended that an executioner be employed. Tom Long, an Irishman who claimed to have previously been an executioner in Australia , was hired. He is the only professional executioner in New Zealand known by name , the others remained anonymous.

history

The first person sentenced to death was a juvenile Māori named Kihi, who was found guilty of the murder of a white shepherd. However, he died of dysentery before execution . The first criminal executed in New Zealand was Wiremu Kingi Maketu for the murder of five people on Motuarohia Island in the Bay of Islands . He was convicted in Auckland by a jury consisting of whites , although the defense lawyer had called for a jury consisting of half white, half Māori, and executed in March 1842.

All those executed were men, with the exception of Minnie Dean, who was convicted of child murder in 1895 . Except for Hamiora Pere had all been convicted of murder. The last to be executed was Walter James Bolton on February 18, 1957 for the poisoning of his wife.

Another five men were sentenced to death by military courts as deserters or rebels during the First World War and shot . In 2000, Parliament rehabilitated these men because the verdict was illegitimate.

abolition

When the Labor Party formed its first government after the 1935 elections, it converted all death sentences to life imprisonment . In 1941 the Crimes Amendment Act changed from the death penalty to forced labor for murder. The only crimes still subject to the death penalty were treason and piracy .

The Labor Party lost power to the more conservative National Party , which reintroduced the death penalty for murder. During her tenure, 36 people were convicted of murder, 22 of whom were sentenced to death. The final decision on executions was made by the New Zealand Cabinet and only eight of those convicted were executed.

According to Department of Justice historian Pauline Engel, the 1953 British Royal Commission on Capital Punishment may have been heavily influenced by the growing movement for the abolition of the death penalty. There has also been controversy surrounding the executions of Harry Whiteland and Edward Te Whiu, which raised questions about possible war-related trauma, intellectual and developmental disorders as possible contributors to decreased guilty capacity. A National Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty was established in November 1956 with offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Engel and Maureen Goring pointed out the role of Protestant Christians. In 1941 and 1951 the Christian Social Justice League , Christchurch Anglican Diocesan Synod and the Methodist Public Questions Committee promoted the abolition. Individual Catholics also spoke out against the death penalty, but the church hierarchy remained neutral in the discussion. The New Zealand Theosophical Society also opposed the death penalty, with the Church of Christ and the Union of Baptists joining in in the late 1950s. The growing opposition to the death penalty in religious circles provided an organizational base for opponents of the death penalty.

In 1956, Justice Secretary Jack Marshall tabled a referendum request to abolish the death penalty. This should take place in the context of the parliamentary elections in 1957. However, the application failed. The elections brought a short-lived Labor government to power, but it made no changes until the National Party came back to power in 1960.

In 1961, the National Party confirmed its support for the death penalty, if only for premeditated murder, murders in the course of another crime, and on escaping custody. The issue of the death penalty sparked internal party debates. Justice Minister Ralph Hanan opposed the death penalty and Deputy Prime Minister Jack Marshall was in support of it.

The question was the subject of a conscience vote in parliament, ten members of the National Party voted together with Labor, so that a majority of 11 votes against the death penalty resulted with 41 to 30 votes. Those ten MPs were Ernest Aderman , Gordon Grieve , Ralph Hanan , Duncan MacIntyre , Robert Muldoon , Herbert Pickering , Logan Sloane , Brian Talboys , Esme Tombleson, and Herbert John Walker . This abolished the death penalty for murder, but remained in force for treason and related crimes.

The last remnants of the death penalty were abolished under a Labor government in 1989 without any further executions. Calls for reintroduction are occasionally heard, but none of the major political parties have included it in their programs. The fundamental Christian party Christian Heritage New Zealand , which no longer existed in 2006 , had this in its program, but only achieved the support of 2% of the population in most opinion polls. Evangelical Christians were deeply divided over the death penalty, and The Kiwi Party (formerly Future New Zealand ) supported the reintroduction. Many otherwise conservative Catholics were against the reintroduction.

literature

New Zealand Howard League for Penal Reform .: Capital Punishment. To Inquiry . Howard League for Penal Reform, Wellington 1949.
Bruce James Cameron: Capital Punishment . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 17, 2015]).
Pauline Engel: The Abolition of Capital Punishment in New Zealand. 1935-1961 . Department of Justice, Wellington 1977 (also: Wellington, Univ., Thesis).
Greg Newbold: Capital Punishment in New Zealand. An Experiment that Failed . In: Deviant Behavior 11, 1990, ISSN 0163-9625 , pp. 155-174.
Maureen Goring: Lex talionis and the Christian Churches. The Question of Capital Punishment in New Zealand . In: James Veitch (Ed.): To strive and not to yield . Essays in honor of Colin Brown. Department of World Religions, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 1992, ISBN 0-475-11013-7 ( Victoria studies in religion and society 1), pp. 112-122.
Cuthbert Ross: Issues in the Death Penalty Debate in New Zealand. 1935-1992 . University of Auckland Faculty of Law, Auckland 1993 (dissertation).

Web links

The death penalty - Introduction . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , August 5, 2014,accessed December 18, 2015(English, and 5 other pages).
Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989 . In: New Zealand Legislation . Parliamentary Council Office,accessed December 18, 2015.
Capital Punishment New Zealand . nzcrime.com, archived from the original onDecember 30, 2004; accessed on September 18, 2014(English, original website no longer available).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d A history of capital punishment in NZ . In: One News . Television New Zealand , December 17, 2008, accessed December 18, 2015 .