Jan. 31
AUSTRALIA:
LAST MAN HANGED:
On the 38th anniversary of Australia's last state-sanctioned execution,
the History Channel is screening a one-hour documentary film, 'The Last
Man Hanged'.
The dramatised documentary film dipicts the story of Ronald Joseph Ryan -
the last man hanged in Australia. Ryan's hanging was the turning point for
capital punishment in Australia. Community outrage over the hanging led to
total abolition.
The film was first released in 1993, when Rick Halperin was on a 12-day
visit in Australia. Rick had come to inform and update Australians on the
nature and extent of the death penalty in the U.S. By coincidence, the
documentary film was being released during Rick's visit.
At the time, Rick told reporters that the documentary film had the
potential to boost the abolition movement in the U.S. "I would love to see
it released in the U.S. The death penalty is a human evil, a barbarism,"
said Rick.
The public protests aroused by Ryan's hanging intrigued the leading U.S.
opponent of the death penalty. Rick was struck by the film's scenes of
huge crowds demonstrating against the hanging. "It was in direct contrast
to crowds outside prisons in the U.S. where they go to cheer and celebrate
when someone is executed," said Rick.
The graphic depiction of the documentary serves to remind us of the
politicisation of state-sanctioned killing, which the then Victoria State
Premier Sir Henry Bolte, made an election issue, and of the doubts (that
still to this day) surround Ryan's conviction. The portrayal of the
mechanics of death might seem somewhat macabre but underlining that the
debate on capital punishment is not about abstractions, but about
state-authorised killing.
The film depicts the events leading up to the hanging of Ronald Ryan - the
petty thief and gambler who turned to crime to support his mother,
sisters, wife and daughters. While serving a sentence in Pentridge Prison
for robbery, Ryan escaped with another prisoner in which a prison guard
was shot dead. Ryan was subsequently convicted for murder, but to this day
there is still some doubt about his guilt.
The film details the issues that led to the hanging of Ryan and how the
Victoria State Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, facing an election, decided to
make an issue out of the Ryan case and pushed through the hanging, despite
the biggest nationwide protest ever seen in the history of Australia.
What evolves is a powerful and emotional statement about capital
punishment, a universal story about the social and political pressures
that can lead a government to take the life of a human being.
'The Last Man Hanged' can be seen on the History Channel:
Thursday February 3 ... 12:30 PM and 7:30 PM
Friday February 4 ... 3:30 AM and 4:30 PM
Saturday February 5 ... 12:30 AM and 8:30 AM
(source: Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty)
