10 reasons to end the death penalty - Internationally. ( worldcoalition.org )
1.No State (country) should have the power to take a person’s life.
2. It is irrevocable. No justice system is safe from error and innocent people are likely to be.
sentenced to death or executed.
3. It is unfair.The death penalty is discriminatory and is used disproportionately against people
from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, people with intellectual or psychosocial
disabilities, and members of racial and ethnic minority groups. In some countries, the death
penalty is used to target groups on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity,
political opinion, or religion.
4. It is inhuman, cruel, and degrading. Conditions on death row and the anguish of facing
execution inflict extreme psychological and physical suffering, and execution is a physical and
mental assault.
5. It denies any possibility of rehabilitation.
6. It is applied overwhelmingly in violation of international standards. It breaches the principles
of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to
life and that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. On nine occasions, the United Nations General Assembly has called for the
establishment of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty (resolutions No. 62/149 in 2007,
No. 63/168 in 2008, No. 65/206 in 2010, 67/176 in 2012, No. 69/186 in 2014, No. 71/187 in
2016 and No. 73/175 in 2018 and No. 75/183 in 2020 and No. 77/222 in 2022).
7. It creates unjustifiable pain for everyone in contact with it: particularly the relatives of both
victims and people sentenced to death, including children, with harsh transgenerational
consequences.
8. It is counterproductive, because killing of a human being as a criminal justice solution
endorses murder more than it fights it.
9. It is inefficient and does not keep society safer. It has never been conclusively shown that
the death penalty deters crime more effectively than life imprisonment. On the contrary, studies
show that the rate of the most violent crimes is higher in retentionist countries than in
abolitionist countries.
10. Many murder victims’ families do not want the death penalty. A large and growing number
of victims’ families worldwide reject the death penalty and are speaking out against it, saying it
does not bring back or honor their murdered family member, does not heal the pain of the
murder, and violates their ethical and/or religious beliefs.