Worldwide abolition of the the death penalty.
It will be wonderful when it happens, and while you know about Death Penalty
Focus' 20-plus years in the forefront of the movement in the US, you are probably
less familiar with our international work against the death penalty. Right now,
we ask you to join an international
petition for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.
We reported to you recently that we are working hard now for the SAFE
California initiative to replace California's death penalty with life without the possibility of parole in 2012. When we suceed in California, it will be big news all over
the world, particularly in our large international abolition movement.
In 1988, when DPF was founded, only 35 nations worldwide had abolished the
death penalty completely, and another 18 had abolished it for ordinary crimes.
Today, 139 countries, most of the nations on earth, have abolished the death
penalty in law or in practice. The US, sadly, is in the very bad company
of China, Iran, North Korea and Yemen as one of the top five executing nations,
but we are working every day to be a strong part of the international trend
away from capital punishment.
Death Penalty Focus is in the leadership of this international
abolition movement, as a member of the Steering Committee of the World
Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Every year, on October 10th, World
Day Against the Death Penalty, the World Coalition's 125 member organizations
in 35 countries, participate in an international program of education and activism
against the death penalty.
This year, the 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty is
focusing on The Inhumanity
of the Death Penalty. We have launched a Petition drive in support of the
United Nations resolution calling for a worldwide end to the use of the death
penalty. This resolution will be voted on in the General Assembly of the UN
in December of 2012.
We hope you will join DPF in the leadership of US participation in this international
movement toward abolition by signing the 2011
International Petition Against the Death Penalty. This movement is growing
and gaining momentum, both in the US and all over the world, and we are very
excited to be a part of it.
| 
