Westside : Murder Victims’ Families Rally Against Death Penalty

Opponents of capital punishment who have lost family members to murder rallied in front of the Federal Building in Westwood on Thursday.

About 90 members and supporters of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation joined in the evening march and rally as one of the organization’s final events in a two-week tour through California called the “Journey of Hope.”

Murder victims’ family members and movement leaders have held rallies and appeared on local radio and television shows to tell the public that the death penalty is not a solution and should be abolished, event organizers said.

Losing a loved one in a murder is “one of the most painful processes a human can go through,” said John Osborne, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation spokesman. “The pain never ends, and it is a battle to cope every single day.”

But the activists realize that revenge in the form of capital punishment will not bring their family members back and is sometimes applied to innocent people, Osborne said.

Last year, the group made a similar tour through Georgia urging the abolition of that state’s death penalty.

Currently, 39 states have death penalty laws, and more than 3,000 people are on Death Row in the United States, Osborne said. California has 420 people on Death Row, more than any other state.