Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished nationwide since 1985. Western Australia was the last state to put an end to capital punishment. Capital punishment is the sentencing that involves death. There are many that think capital punishment is bad and ethically wrong, and there are also many that think it is legitimate. I think that capital punishment is not moral in most cases. .
Capital punishment was abolished in Australia and many other countries because it was thought to be morally incorrect. Also because they came to the conclusion that it gives no one the right to take another's life.
Although now the latest technologies offer us with quick and painless ways of executing people, before these inventions executions were performed in painful ways e.g. the electric chair. This factor adds to the notion that capital punishment is unethical. .
One big factor that perhaps led the abolishment of capital punishment in many countries was a case where a man was sentenced to death with a "proper" trial and years after the execution, he was found not guilty. This issue shook the world. It sparked the revolution of judges not being able to make decisions as freely and juries having greater power. Many leaders of nations gathered to discuss the issue and many agreed to the abolishment of capital punishment. .
As capital punishment began to lose its supporters new laws were being made to make capital punishment out of the picture. One of these is life-imprisonment. Instead of facing death criminals were able to live the rest of their lives in prison. These prisoners are able to look back on their lives and repent. This option is thought to be the moral way. Since capital punishment has been abolished in many countries, life-imprisonment has replaced capital punishment. In the countries that still exercise capital punishment, life-imprisonment is being used more often and they tend to leave capital punishment as a very last resort.
