Capital punishment in New Zealand

Capital punishment in New Zealand first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British territory in 1840, and was first employed in in 1842. It was last used in 1957, abolished for murder in 1961, and abolished altogether, including for treason, in 1989. During that period of effect, 85 people were executed.

Method

The method of execution in New Zealand was hanging. At first, there were many possible execution sites all around the country, but later, the only two cities in which hangings could be carried out were Wellington (the capital) and Auckland (the largest city). Initially, there was no professional hangman employed—the executioner was simply chosen from among any who were deemed qualified. On occasion, convicted criminals were employed as hangmen, often in exchange for reduced sentences or monetary reward. In 1877, however, the sheriff of Blenheim recommended that a professional executioner be hired. Tom Long, an Irishman who claimed to have been an executioner in Australia, was hired as New Zealand's first official hangman. He was the only official hangman to be publicly known; others chose to remain anonymous.

History

The first person to be sentenced to death by a court in New Zealand was a Māori youth named Kihi, who was found guilty of murdering a white shepherd. However, Kihi died of dysentery before the sentence could be carried out. The first person to actually be executed was Wiremu Kingi Maketu, who was found guilty of murdering several people on Motuarohia Island, in the Bay of Islands. The people killed were the wife, son and foster daughter of Captain John Roberton (who predeceased them) , who was accused of swindling and kidnapping Māori from the Chatham Islands — Maketu appears to have been acting in revenge. He was sentenced to death by an all-white jury (his defence had wanted a half-white, half-Māori jury) in an Auckland court. Maketu was executed in March 1842.

All but one of the 85 people executed were men; the sole woman was Minnie Dean, found guilty of infanticide in 1895. All but one of the executions were of convicted murderers — the only exception was Hamiora Pere, who was convicted of treason. The last person to be executed in New Zealand was Walter James Bolton, who was found guilty of poisoning his wife. He was executed on February 18, 1957.

Abolition

When the Labour Party formed its first government following the 1935 elections, it commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. In 1941, the Crimes Amendment Act changed the penalty for murder from death to life imprisonment with hard labour. The only crimes for which the death penalty would still apply were treason and piracy.

Eventually, however, the Labour Party lost power to the more conservative National Party, which had pledged to reintroduce capital punishment. During the time that the National Party was in office, 36 people were convicted of murder, and 22 of those were sentenced to death. The final decision on executions rested with Cabinet, however, and only eight of the condemned were actually put to death.

According to Department of Justice historian Pauline Engel, the British Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953) may have heavily influenced the rise of abolitionism, as did the controversies that surrounded the executions of Harry Whiteland and Edward Te Whiu, which raised questions about post-war trauma, intellectual and developmental disability as factors for leniency. Thus, a National Committee for Abolition of the Death Penalty was formed in November 1956, with branches in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Engel and Maureen Goring have drawn attention to the involvement of Protestant Christian opposition to capital punishment. In 1941 and 1951, the Christian Social Justice League, Christchurch Anglican Diocesan Synod and Methodist Public Questions Committee all supported abolitionism, as did individual Catholics, although their hierarchy would remain neutral during the course of this debate. The New Zealand Theosophical Society also opposed capital punishment, and the Churches of Christ and Baptist Union also declared their opposition in the late fifties. As religious opposition grew, it provided opponents of capital punishment with an organisational base that was used to good effect.

In 1956, a proposal for a referendum on capital punishment was put forward by the Minister of Justice, Jack Marshall. This referendum was to be voted on during the 1957 general elections, but the proposal was defeated. The elections saw a short-lived Labour government elected, but no changes were made before the National Party regained power in the 1960 elections.

In 1961, the National Party reaffirmed its support for the death penalty, although restricted its use to premeditated murders, murders committed during another crime, and murders committed during an escape from custody. The issue of capital punishment generated debate within the National Party—the then Minister of Justice in the Second National Government who was responsible for introducing the new Crimes Bill, Ralph Hanan, was an opponent of the death penalty, while Jack Marshall, then Deputy Prime Minister, was a strong supporter.

The issue came to a conscience vote in Parliament, and ten National MPs crossed the floor to vote with the Labour Party. The result was a majority of 11 against capital punishment (41 to 30). The ten National MPs were: Rev Ernest Aderman, Gordon Grieve, Ralph Hanan, Duncan MacIntyre, Robert Muldoon, Herbert Pickering, Logan Sloane, Brian Talboys, Mrs Esme Tombleson and Herbert John Walker. The death penalty was thereby abolished for murder, being retained only for treason and other similar acts.

These last remnants of the death penalty which were rarely used (only one person had been hanged for treason) were finally abolished under a Labour government in 1989. Occasional calls still surface for it to be reintroduced, but no major political party has made capital punishment part of its manifesto.

While the (defunct) fundamentalist Christian Heritage New Zealand party did so, it only ever commanded one to two percentage points of public support in most opinion polls until its dissolution in 2006. Even then, New Zealand evangelical Christians disagreed profoundly about capital punishment amongst one another, as The Kiwi Party (formerly Future New Zealand), did not agree with its counterpart fundamentalist party over any restoration of capital punishment. Many otherwise conservative Catholics also opposed restoration of the death penalty.

ee also

*List of people executed in New Zealand

Bibliography

*Creswell, J.C.M. (1998) "Murder in paradise: The strange adventures of the Roberton brothers" Whangarei: J.M. Glover ISBN 187613500X
*Engel, Pauline (1977): "The Abolition of Capital Punishment in New Zealand": Wellington: Department of Justice.
*Gee, David (1975). "The devil's own brigade: A History of Lyttelton Gaol: "Wellington: Millwood Press.
*Goring, Maureen (1994): "Lex talionis and the Christian Churches: The Question of Capital Punishment in New Zealand" (p.112-122) in J.Veitch (ed) "To Strive and Not to Yield: Essays in Honour of Colin Brown": Wellington: Victoria University Department of Religious Studies: ISBN 0-475-11013-7
*Harcourt, Melville (1942). "A Parson In Prison": Auckland: Whitcombs and Tombs.
*Howard League for Penal Reform (1949) "Capital Punishment: An Inquiry:" Wellington: Howard League for Penal Reform.
*Newbold, Greg (1990). "Capital Punishment in New Zealand: An Experiment that Failed".
*Ross, Cuthbert (1993)"Issues in the Death Penalty Debate in New Zealand: 1935-1992:" LLB (Hons) Dissertation: University of Auckland Faculty of Law
*Treadwell, C A L (1936). "Notable New Zealand Trials":New Plymouth:T.Avery.
*Young, Sherwood (1998) "Guilty on the Gallows: Famous Capital Crimes of New Zealand": Wellington: Grantham House: ISBN 1-86934-068-X
*"Meccano Set", a program by Radio New Zealand produced by Matthew Leonard and Paul Diamond

External links

* [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-death-penalty "Capital Punishment in New Zealand" at NZHistory.net]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/C/CapitalPunishment/CapitalPunishment/en Capital Punishment in 1966 "Encyclopaedia of New Zealand"]
*" [http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0119/latest/DLM193572.html Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989] "
*"nzcrime.com". [http://nzcrime.com/cap_punishment.HTML Capital Punishment page] , [http://nzcrime.com/hangmen.HTML second half of the Hangmen page]
* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp "Dictionary of New Zealand Biography" (articles on Maketu, Dean, Marshall, and Hanan)]