Capital Punishment in New Zealand - Abolition and Its Aftermath: 1961 Onwards

Abolition and Its Aftermath: 1961 Onwards

Aware of growing public opposition to capital punishment, the National Party allowed its MPs to exercise 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, 41-30. 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 Bert Walker. The death penalty was therefore abolished for murder, being retained only for treason and other similar acts in theory. In principle, this meant that de facto abolition had occurred from that point onward.

These last theoretical vestiges of capital punishment were abolished under the Palmer Labour cabinet in November, 1989 with the passage of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989, and there were no further executions during the interim period. Passage of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act ended all capital punishment in New Zealand.

Occasional populist calls to reinstate capital punishment still occur, but no major political party has made capital punishment an element of any of their election manifestos since the 1989 Abolition act. One minor party, the Christian Heritage New Zealand Party did so, but at its greatest strength the party only commanded one to two percentage points of support in most opinion polls. The Christian Heritage New Zealand Party disbanded in 2006. Evangelical Christians often disagreed, and continue to disagree, with each other profoundly about capital punishment. The Conservative Party of New Zealand, the current political party most closely aligned with fundamentalist Christianity, does not support restoration of capital punishment, reflecting a more traditional and consistent pro-life Christian position. Many otherwise conservative Catholics also oppose the restoration of capital punishment, again reflecting a more consistent pro-life stance that opposes both abortion and capital punishment.