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Defined Terms
Baker's Dozen Problems
Articles & Reports - Bibliography
Petition
7. Execution was not
foreign to Australian Courts. 1,648 convicted felons were executed in the 147
years from 1820 to the final hanging at Pentridge Prison in 1967
The initial 120 years after
settlement in 1788 evidenced massive rates of hangings across Australia.
Australia's
Forefather Governors had identified
the most cost-effective method to
Deter crime, when they
could not afford to build lots of tiny steal cages.
'Capital Punishment' - Ivan Potas and John Walker - Australian Institute of
Criminology - Feb 1987 provides a
table that evidences that between 1820 and the final
execution of Ronald Ryan at Pentridge Prison in 1967, 1,648 people were
executed, invariably by hanging and nearly all males.
In 1835
the population of Australia was 113,354 (81,929 males + 31,425 females) -
34 males were hanged in 1835 - 0.041% of the male population.
That represents one male in every 2,439 males was executed in the 365 days across Australian prisons (one hanging every 10.73 days).
Other years in the early 19th Century had
higher per capita annual execution rates eg. 1829.
Since Federation in 1901, 114 people were legally executed in Australia.[3]
Sentences imposed by predecessor Australian governments, our 'Forefather Governors'.
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