Posted: August 25th, 2010, 12:00pm MSD
[JURIST] Capital punishment advocates in Switzerland on Wednesday unexpectedly withdrew [advocacy website, in German] from their campaign to reinstate the death penalty [JURIST news archive] only one day after the Federal Chancellery [official website, in German] allowed them to begin collecting signatures [JURIST report] in support of a referendum [text, in German]. The advocacy group did not give a reason for its sudden withdrawal from the campaign, though it continues to argue that the Swiss criminal justice system hurts victims by failing to adequately punish those convicted of serious crimes. On Tuesday, the Swiss government set a six-month deadline for...