Today, October 10, is the world day against the death penalty. Out of 195 UN member states, 62 still permit routine capital punishment. Today is the day we work to change that.
This year's theme is the same as last year's: the misconception that the death penalty makes people safer. Murdering people does not deter crime. It does not make people safe. If we want to do that, we need to deal with the underlying causes: poverty, inequality, exclusion, discrimination. Build a more just society, and crime will reduce. The purpose of the death penalty is therefore to maintain an unjust society, through terror, oppression, and murder.
While no states abolished the death penalty in the last year, Vietnam removed it for a number of crimes, which should reduce its use. Which is small progress, but still some.
