Richards has written The Hanged Man: The Life and Death...

Richards has written The Hanged Man: The Life and Death of Ronald Ryan and it is a sad, powerful and important document, a new study of one of the darkest episodes in Australian history mounts a powerful argument against capital punishment. Mike Richards, who 35 years ago was a university student activist protesting the execution of Ronald Ryan, still believes that Ryan was guilty of the murder of a prison officer for which he became, on February 3, 1967, the last man hanged in Australia.However, so too does he continue to believe, perhaps now more firmly than ever, that the policy of capital punishment is abhorrent and unjustifiable.