 It was in the Kingdom of Tahiti (when the island was independent), in 1824, that for the first time in the world a legislative assembly abolished the death penalty, commuted into banishment.Nearly all countries in this region have abolished the death penalty as a form of punishment, and the two countries that still have it in law (Papua New Guinea and Tonga) have not used it in years.The last known executions in this region took place in Tonga in 1982.