The last person killed here because of the death penalty was this man.
It happened not so long ago, in 1967.
His name was Ronald Ryan.
He was hanged for shooting a prison officer during a jail-break.
Many people pushed for a different outcome and there were lots of big protests before
and after.
And by 1985 each of the states and territories had removed capital punishment from their
laws.
There are a few reasons why that happened.
Jails and rehabilitation programs to help criminals were improving, which meant people
could more easily turn their lives around after committing a crime.
Others argued some people might be wrongfully convicted of a crime and sentenced to death
before the error is discovered, so life imprisonment would be a better option.
Although things have now changed here, capital punishment laws haven't changed everywhere
around the world.
Most countries have abolished it, but more than 50 still have the death sentence for
some crimes.
And they include big or wealthy countries like Japan, Indonesia and parts of the United
States, but also smaller countries like Tonga and North Korea.
Of all those nations still using capital punishment China has the largest known number of people
sentenced to death each year.