Today, October 10, is the world day against the death penalty. Out of 195 UN member states and observers, 95 still have the death penalty on their books - though fewer than half of them apply it in practice. Today is the day we work to change that.
This year the focus is on the use of the death penalty against the mentally ill. Despite it being illegal under international law (and indeed under the domestic law of all practicisng death-penalty states) to execute the mentally ill, it still happens with disturbing frequency and in the US there is even a practice of forcibly medicating the insane in order to make them competent for execution. This is cruel and inhumane, and serves no just purpose, and it needs to be stopped immediately.