The purpose of this chapter is to review the literature about the abolishment of

The purpose of this chapter is to review the literature about the abolishment of capital punishment in New Zealand. I seek to evaluate the arguments that have been put forward in validating the abolishment of capital punishment in New Zealand (Simon & Blaskovich 2007; Duner & Geurtsen 2002). This is because irrespective of the presence of very good reasons that have been raised in supporting the abolishment of the capital punishment (Nyman & Schabas 2003) there seems also to be a significant counter discourse in support of capital punishment in popular opinion. While this is not addressed among the social scientists this discourse is evident as a reasonable number of people have also been in support of it (Duner & Geurtsen 2002; Greenberg & West 2008).