Victory
Groundbreaking Trayvon Martin Campaign is Our Most Popular Criminal Justice Campaign to Date
In Change.org’s journey to 100 million users, no petition has been more visible than that which asked for George Zimmerman to be prosecuted for the death of Trayvon Martin.
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking from a convenience store to a family member’s home on February 26. George Zimmerman saw him, thought he was suspicious, and reported Trayvon to the police who told Zimmerman not to confront the young man. But Zimmerman did confront him and admitted to police that he shot Trayvon.
Zimmerman was not immediately arrested or charged with any crime. So two weeks after his death, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton started a petition to call for charges to be brought against the man who killed their son.
The petition turned a local tragedy into an international movement for justice, inspiring millions to take action and, ultimately, the Florida State Attorney to bring charges of second degree murder against Zimmerman.
More than 2.2 million people signed the petition. It is not only the most popular criminal justice victory we’ve seen on Change.org, but also it is the most popular victory across our entire platform.
To create this list, below, we took looked at all of the winning criminal justice petitions on Change.org and highlighted the biggest victories by signature count.
5 Most Popular Criminal Justice Victories on Change.org
1. Prosecute the Killer of our Son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin
Country: United States
Date of Victory: April 11, 2012
Number of Signatures: 2,278,945
Following the tragic death of their son Trayvon, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton started a petition to call for charges to be brought against the man who killed their son. See Victory
2. Right to a Fair Trial
Country: Turkey
Date of Victory: December 2, 2014
Number of Signatures: 622,328
One Turkish football fan was so outraged with the way in which President and management of Fenerbahçe Sports Club were accused and then convicted of match-fixing that he used a petition to successfully call for their retrial. See Victory
3. Stop the Amendment that Would Make it Difficult to Prevent Fraud
Country: Thailand
Date of Victory: November 7, 2013
Number of Signatures: 615,103
The Anti-Corruption Organization successfully petitioned the Parliament of Thailand to stop a draft amendment to Section 3 that would make it more difficult to prosecute corruption cases. See Victory
4. Justice for Quinten
Country: United States
Date of Victory: May 29, 2014
Number of Signatures: 502,788
After the death of her special needs brother Quinten, Valerie Wood petitioned the state of Oklahoma to investigate Child Welfare Services and Midwest City Public Schools. The campaign resulted in the passage of The Quinten Douglas Wood Act of 2014. See Victory
5. #NãoPEC37 Brazil Against Impunity
Country: Brazil
Date of Victory: June 25, 2013
Number of Signatures: 460,876
Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo campaigned for eight months to get deputies to vote against the Proposed Constitutional Amendment 37, which would made it nearly impossible to investigate organized crime, corruption, or other abuses committed by state agents. See Victory
Passionate about criminal justice issues? Here are some petitions that might interest you: