Death penalty abolished ... for the time being

The Labour Party had long opposed capital punishment, and after taking office in 1935 it commuted all death sentences to life in prison.

The death penalty for murder was legally abolished in 1941. It was reintroduced by the new National government in 1950 before being finally removed from the statute book in 1961.

The 1941 Crimes Amendment Act also abolished flogging and whipping as judicial punishments.

The first execution in New Zealand was that of Maketū Wharetōtara, a 16-year-old Māori, who was convicted at Auckland in 1842. In total 82 men and one woman (Minnie Dean) were executed for murder and one man (Hamiora Pere) for treason in New Zealand between 1842 and 1957.

Following the restoration of the death penalty in 1950 there were 18 convictions for murder and eight executions between 1951 and 1957. Walter Bolton was the last to be executed when he was hanged at Mt Eden prison in 1957 for the murder of his wife. After Labour was returned to office in late 1957 the death penalty became inoperative.

In 1961 the matter was put to a conscience vote of Members of Parliament. Ten members of the National government voted with the Opposition and capital punishment was abolished (except for treason). The Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989 removed execution as a punishment for treason and for ‘treachery in the Armed Forces’, and enabled the declining of applications for extradition to another country on charges for which the death penalty might be imposed.