Some 150 business leaders declaring themselves against the death penalty is seen as a boost toward ending it.

Some 150 business leaders around the world have signed a declaration  asking for the end of the death penalty in every country. It is part of  Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign launched a few months ago by one of its founders Richard Branson. Other signatories are business leaders like Francois Henri Pinault, Ben Cohen, Jerry Greenfield and Ariana Huffington. Others still  include the leaders of Unilever and Bayer. The declaration reads,  “As an irreversible and extreme form of punishment, the death penalty is inhumane, and it is irreconcilable with  human dignity. Its worldwide abolition is a moral imperative that all of humanity should support.”  At least 170 United Nations Members have abolished the death penalty in practice if not legally. In the United States, 23 states have abolished it, some have a moratorium and some have not used it. Still we hear of botched executions as in Oklahoma last October. There are still several states where the death penalty is not only practiced it is used without regards to how humane its execution method is. Responsible Business Initiative for Justice is the nonprofit which helped organize this campaign, its chief executive Celia Ouellette hopes that  signing on  well-known  business leaders will give momentum to their campaign to end the death penalty in the United States. One of the activist organization’s goal is to pressure the Biden administration to end the death penalty at the federal level.

I follow sister Helen Prejean on Twitter and almost daily I am reminded of the injustice, the inequality and the inhumanity of the death penalty. Anything that can work to end it is welcomed.