Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga
The South Pacific forms a cohesive region with broadly similar cultural attributes, legal systems and colonial histories. A comparative analysis starts from the assumption that these countries should also have similar criminal justice policies. However, until 2022, both Papua New Guinea and Tonga we...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Queensland University of Technology
2022-09-01
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| Series: | International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/2475 |
| _version_ | 1828114554698072064 |
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| author | Daniel Pascoe Andrew Novak |
| author_facet | Daniel Pascoe Andrew Novak |
| author_sort | Daniel Pascoe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The South Pacific forms a cohesive region with broadly similar cultural attributes, legal systems and colonial histories. A comparative analysis starts from the assumption that these countries should also have similar criminal justice policies. However, until 2022, both Papua New Guinea and Tonga were retentionist death penalty outliers in the South Pacific, a region home to seven other fully abolitionist members of the United Nations. In this article, we use the comparative method to explain why Papua New Guinea and Tonga have pursued a different death penalty trajectory than their regional neighbours. Eschewing the traditional social science explanations for death penalty retention, we suggest two novel explanations for ongoing retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga: the law and order crisis in the former and the traditionally powerful monarchy in the latter. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:26:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e688897574674b5381f4a7df4833f08a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2202-7998 2202-8005 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:26:21Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Queensland University of Technology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |
| spelling | doaj.art-e688897574674b5381f4a7df4833f08a2022-12-22T04:23:56ZengQueensland University of TechnologyInternational Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy2202-79982202-80052022-09-01113435610.5204/ijcjsd.24752785Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and TongaDaniel Pascoe0Andrew Novak1City University of Hong KongGeorge Mason UniversityThe South Pacific forms a cohesive region with broadly similar cultural attributes, legal systems and colonial histories. A comparative analysis starts from the assumption that these countries should also have similar criminal justice policies. However, until 2022, both Papua New Guinea and Tonga were retentionist death penalty outliers in the South Pacific, a region home to seven other fully abolitionist members of the United Nations. In this article, we use the comparative method to explain why Papua New Guinea and Tonga have pursued a different death penalty trajectory than their regional neighbours. Eschewing the traditional social science explanations for death penalty retention, we suggest two novel explanations for ongoing retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga: the law and order crisis in the former and the traditionally powerful monarchy in the latter.https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/2475death penaltypapua new guineasouth pacifictongacomparative criminal justicecolonialism |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Pascoe Andrew Novak Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy death penalty papua new guinea south pacific tonga comparative criminal justice colonialism |
| title | Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga |
| title_full | Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga |
| title_fullStr | Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga |
| title_full_unstemmed | Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga |
| title_short | Holdouts in the South Pacific: Explaining Death Penalty Retention in Papua New Guinea and Tonga |
| title_sort | holdouts in the south pacific explaining death penalty retention in papua new guinea and tonga |
| topic | death penalty papua new guinea south pacific tonga comparative criminal justice colonialism |
| url | https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/2475 |
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